Doing a little Soul Searching
by Voyevoda3203
Summary: This is mainly about Dawn wanting to find her soul when she found out that she didn't have one (during the "Glory" season). SHe goes to Spike for help and some things didn't work out the way she wanted it to. This is also a Buffy/Spike angst/romance fic.
1. Part One

Buffy the Vampire Slayer

Untitled  


Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of the characters. 

The night started out like every other night in Sunnydale. The light breeze fluttering though the air, the moon's full light shining over the quaint town, and one little slayer kicking some major ass. 

Assisting her were her usual companions Willow and Xander, each trying their best at killing one vampire while Buffy tacked five down with incredible agility and ease. Buffy dusted off all that was left of the vampire remains and strode over to the struggling fighters. Within the blink of an eye, she stabbed the vampire in the chest and he vanquished into a big dusty pile of ashes. 

There was a moment of silence as Xander stumbled forward a little. "We-we had that all under control, Buffy," Xander said, out of breath. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand and sighed in relief. "I was just starting to get serious." 

"Yeah," Willow agreed. "We were just about to reveal our master plan, but then you came and ruined it. Shame on you, Buffy." Willow gave Buffy a half-hearted scowl. 

"Well, sorry to ruin your new game plan, but I just wanted to make sure that you guys were alive so I don't have to grieve over more deaths." Buffy looked down and a long silence shadowed over the trio.

Willow and Xander gave each other one of their looks. They were both thinking the same thing: Buffy shouldn't be out patrolling so soon after her mom died and the way Tara was taken over by Glory's powers. If she put off her emotions any longer, she was going to explode from all the stress she was going through. 

"Uh...I think we should just get back," Willow said, breaking the awkward silence. She walked over to Buffy and linked their arms together, leading Buffy away from the fighting area. Xander followed closely on the other side of Buffy. 

"Yeah, I bet Dawn's bored out of her mind with Spike babysitting her," the tall, yet hefty man informed. "He's probably showing her different techniques on how to kill an innocent."

***

"Agggggh! Spike, help me!" a young girls screams echoed through the hollow vampire hideout. 

A few silent moments passed and Dawn screamed once again. "Spike! Help!" 

A scurry of footsteps rushed to the living area of the cavern and Spike looked around, ready for battle. "What is it, love?" He asked, stake in hand. He didn't see anything odd....no Glory, no demons. Just a small replica of Buffy standing on his bed. 

"That! There!" Dawn screeched pointing wildly down at the floor. "See it?"

Spike squinted to where she was pointing and saw a small ball of fluff scurrying across the floor. He sighed and lowered his weapon. "That's it?" he asked. He strode over to the animal and lifted his foot, ready to smash it to a pulp. 

"No!" Dawn screamed once again. She reached out her arm as if to stop him frantically. "Don't kill it."

Spike gave an exasperated sigh and scooped the rat up in his hand. He walked over to the entrance to his cavern and threw it outside. "Better?"

Dawn didn't say anything. She just slowly lowered herself to the ground, only slightly embarrassed over her little fiasco. 

Spike closed the front door and strode over next to Dawn who sat down on his bed. "It's just an animal," he said. "It's not that big a deal if it were dead or alive." 

Dawn glanced at him, feeling her defensive side coming out, but didn't turn towards him. "Everything deserves to live. Just because it's an animal doesn't give it any lesser of a right."

"Ok, there, little sprite. Well if everything deserves to live, how come Buffy wants to kill me all the time?" Spike scoffed at the irony.

Dawn looked at him this time, not really knowing how to answer. It was her luck that she didn't need to when Spike's front door opened. In walked Buffy followed by Willow and Xander. Xander had a look of pain on his face. 

"I think somebody hit me in the head with a rat," he winced, rubbing his head. 

Spike had total disregard of Xander and Willow. He stood up from the bed and tried to put on his best look. "Hello, there, Buffy," he said. His sexy voice echoed through the hollow cave, bouncing off the walls and into Buffy's ears. 

As sexy as he was, sexy isn't what she needed right now. She cringed at the sight of him. He was a grade A stalker. It gave Buffy the creeps most of the time even though he was just trying to help. His constant visits to her house at night weren't exactly what she needed all the time. Especially when she was already on edge with all the new responsibilities. 

Buffy ignored his welcome. "Get your things, Dawn. We're leaving." 

Dawn stood up and looked at Spike sympathetically as she walked past. She grabbed her book bag from next to his lone couch and tugged it on her shoulders. Xander led Dawn out, lightly guiding her though the darkness of the outside. Willow looked back at Buffy, who didn't make the effort to move, and followed Xander outside. When they were a good distance away, Buffy raised her eyes to Spike. 

"Thanks for watching her," she said, pocketing her hands in her coat. "I-I know I haven't really been Miss Benevolent to you, but I want you to know that I really appreciate you watching her when I can't. It's really proving to me that you may have changed after all." 

Spike stared at her, touched at her sincerity. This is the first time she said more than 'shut up, Spike' in the past 48 hours. Spike took a deep breath and took a chance: "But I've been telling you this since the moment I changed. Why couldn't you believe me then?"

Buffy raised her eyes to his face, studying it. She was being as sincere as she could be without giving him any hints....why is he ruining it? "How could I trust you?" she asked, feeling her anger rise a bit. "You eat people for a living, Spike. You aren't exactly Mr. Noble, if you know what I mean. Besides, the only thing that made you change was that little chip in your head. You haven't changed by choice. Just by lack of options." 

Spike was ready to retort, but decided that it was better not to. He got what he wanted; her sincerity. That's a good start, in his opinion. 

"Alright, Buffy," Spike said. "You're right. But I think you're friends are waiting on you, so you better get going." 

Buffy looked back out to the dark night, her super abilities allowing her to see past the dark. "You're right," she said. Then without anything such as a good bye, Buffy walked out the door, feeling his eyes on her back the whole way out. 

When Buffy caught up with Xander and the gang, she kept quiet on the walk home. She was tired and she didn't like being so mean to Spike all the time. But that's all she knew of him. Anger, somebody to take things out on. She still wasn't used to the fact that Spike was now human....well partially. He had his soul, so that makes you human, right? She was so used to everything sliding off his back, but now he had all these new feelings. It was going to take some time getting used to. 

Dawn slowed her footsteps to walk in time with Buffy. "You shouldn't give him such a hard time," Dawn whispered in the quiet night as if trying to keep what she was saying from Willow and Xander. It really didn't help though since the night was so quiet. You could hear everything. 

Buffy looked up at her sister with a look of amazement on her face. It was as if Dawn had been reading her thoughts. 

"I know," Buffy replied. "It's just...complicated. I want to be nice to him when he's not getting himself into trouble or when he's not bothering me, but as we all know, it's rare for that to happen. It's just....instinct for me. Kill the vampire. Be mean to the vampire. And I've been thinking: in a way it's like when Spike got his soul, mine was taken away." Buffy paused to think that over. It could have very well been possible. I mean, she kills vampires and demons as a living. Anything's possible in Sunnydale. 

Dawn stopped and grabbed Buffy's elbow. "Why do you think such stupid things?" Dawn asked, irritated at her sister's denseness. "You still have your soul." Dawn's voice quieted down a bit as she whispered to herself: "At least you have your soul. I wish I had one." Xander seemed to be the only person who noticed what she said and he gave her a side long glance.

Willow slowed her footsteps. She couldn't help but overhear their conversation in the silence of the night. "Dawn's right, Buffy." Willow looked at Buffy's stunned reaction and quickly explained. "Not about you being stupid. Because you're not; you're very intelligent. I mean she's right about the part about you still having your soul. It's there, but I think it just needs to be pampered a little more often, you know?"

Buffy stared at Willow with a blank expression. 

Willow once again began to explain. "Like, when's the last time you had some time to yourself while getting a spa treatment or something? You haven't done anything like that since...," Willow trailed off, "Well, ever. I think you need to take a day or two and find that soul of yours again. We can do it by watching sappy movies and eating a lot of junk food and gaining that freshman 15 everyone dreads." Willow gave her one of her goofy smiles and her 'go get 'em' enthusiasm. 

Buffy's thoughts wandered for a few seconds as she considered Willow's suggestion. It's true that she hasn't really taken time out for herself. It seemed nice, but she couldn't. 

"It sounds tempting Willow, but I just can't. With Glory after Dawn and mom and Tara gone, it makes me more determined to put an end to Glory. I can't get a mud bath or watch movies while I know that psychotic killer's still out for me and my friends."

Willow's energetic face went solemn as she realized her plan didn't work. "I guess you're right. But maybe we can still do the movie thing when Glory's dead, right?"

Buffy smiled sweetly and nodded to her best friend, letting her know that it was a promise. 

Xander stepped into the conversation, his sarcastic side taking over. "Yeah, well now that we have the whole soul searching event planned, let's say we get out of here before we get attacked by another vampire or a demon who doesn't really give a rat's ass whether you need to find your soul or not because in fact he wants to eat your soul." 

Buffy, Willow and Dawn each gave Xander a wide-eyed look, startled at his sudden outburst. Realizing that he actually gave words to his thoughts, Xander gave a sheepish smile. "I'll shut up now."

***

The next morning, Spike laid in his bed clad in only the white thin sheets that covered his body. His arm lay carelessly over his eyes, blocking the obscure sunbeams he knew was on the other side of his sunlight ridden 'house.'

Spike turned in his bed, letting the sheets fall to the side, revealing his bare back. "Buffy," he murmured in his sleep, completely unaware that he was in fact sleep. The dream was so real...

In his dream, Spike was getting ready to kiss Buffy. His face was closer, closer, closer, closer....

"Spike!" 

"Wha-?" Spike groaned, lifting his head from the bed. He looked around his room, forgetting where he was. Then suddenly remembering. "Ah, bloody hell!" he yelled as he stood up and threw on some clothes. He was just getting to the best part of his dream. It frustrated him that he couldn't have her in real life _and_ in his dreams. Maybe it really was impossible to win Buffy over. 

"Who goes there?" Spike asked, grabbing a dark gray wool blanket from his couch. He walked up the ladder and to the door. 

"It's me, Dawn," the voice replied. 

Spike wrapped the blanket over his body, shielding him from the deadly sunlight and he opened the door, feeling a pang of urgency as he did. Dawn stepped into the room and he closed the door, throwing the blanket down in the process. 

"What is it?" He asked her. "Is everybody alright?" 

Dawn smoothed down her hair and rolled her eyes. "Yes, Buffy's alright, Spike." 

Spike was taken aback by Dawn's bluntness. How could he have been so obvious? "Uh-well....then why are you here? Buffy would stake me with a Redwood if she knew you were here while you skipped school." He led her down the ladder and into his little homey place.

Dawn took a seat down on Spike's couch and crossed her legs. She sat there oblivious to her inconvenience as she rummaged through her book bag. "I didn't skip all of school," she murmured as she scanned a packet of papers. "Only half of school. I have, like, two study halls at the end of the day and my art teacher really doesn't care if I go to class or not." 

"Like that makes it better," Spike said. He walked over to his small kitchen area where he had a fridge stocked with pigs blood in large mugs. He reached in and pulled out a mug, placing a nice umbrella straw in it. He took a second to take a sip and then he placed the mug onto the coffee table next to Dawn. 

She looked at the mug as if it were infected, but then quickly averted her eyes when she caught him staring at her. 

Spike disregarded her look and sat there in silence still, waiting for Dawn to continue. 

She didn't say anything.

After a few minutes of silence, Spike finally gave out an annoying sigh. "Well?"

Dawn glanced up from the papers she had been reading. "Well what?" she asked, totally clueless to what he was talking about. 

Spike slapped his knee as a sign of his impatience with her lack of common sense. "Well, I was having a great nap when all of a sudden I hear a banging at my door and then this little bugger who's supposed to be in school come waltzing in, expecting me to have my door open for her all the time. I at least want to know why you're here. You can't expect me to let you lounge out here like a little teenage hang out or something."

Dawn nodded and took a deep breath. "Well, I guess I did come her for another reason besides just wanting to hang out. Well...the thing is...." she trailed off. "You see....no, how do I put this?"

"Get on with it," Spike said, sounding a bit more annoyed than he actually was. She was coming to him for advice for Pete's sake. Not Willow or Xander or Anya. He felt a little bit of pride as if he accomplished something. 

"I was getting to that," Dawn stated firmly, irritated that he wasn't patient. "Well, Buffy and I were kind of having a little chat about souls and everything. About how she thinks she's lost hers because she's a slayer and...."

"What?" Spike asked, suddenly interested. "She thinks that she lost her soul because she's a slayer? That's absurd. That's crazy. That's-"

"-not the point," Dawn finished for him. She was really starting to get annoyed at the way he jumped at the sound of her name. He was becoming too much of a puppy dog. "My point is that since I'm the key and I don't have a soul, I was wondering if I could talk to you about....getting mine. Since you went and got yours and everything." Her childish face lit up as she looked to Spike with hope. 

Spike's face, however turned dark and he shook his head. "Nope. Sorry kid, can't help you out there." He stood up from the couch across from her and walked back over to the kitchen, trying to busy himself by rummaging through the refrigerator. 

"Huh?" Dawn asked, her face falling as she followed him into the kitchen. "But-why can't you help me? I really want one bad and I didn't think that it would be that complicated for you to tell me how to get mine. I didn't think it was that big a deal." 

There was a moment's silence, but then Spike suddenly slammed the fridge door shut and stared at Dawn with the most malicious look he's ever given the poor child. "No big deal?" he repeated. "No big deal? I'll let you know that it was a very damn big of a deal." Spike began to stride towards her menacingly without even realizing it. Dawn staggered backwards, truly afraid of Spike for the first time. She stumbled back until she came back to back with the cold stone wall. She squinted as he continued raging, nose to nose with her. His eyes seemed blank as he stared her down, but she could really see everything he went through as she looked into them. All the pain and heartache just to be noticed. "I went to hell and back to get this thing that lives inside of me. This thing that torments me day and night just because of one thing. I went through unbelievable amounts of torture and neglect and starvation that I almost quit through my quest. But I'll be damned before I face something I can't measure up to. I'll be damned before I quit." Before he knew it, Spike's anger had made him change into the dreadful thing he was forced to conceal. His upper brow lowered way past his eyes, giving him a scowl-ish look that only a vampire could express. His fangs lowered and though had no intention of eating her, he couldn't stop his transformation. 

Spike looked into the deep dark pits of Dawn's eyes and it was only then that he realized she was trembling in complete fear. He took a few steps back, giving her some room. He expected her to scurry out of the way or say something, but she didn't. She stood rooted to the spot staring at his devilish face. 

Feeling that he couldn't take the look of fear and disgust on her face anymore, Spike transformed back to his original self. "Sorry, little bit. I didn't mean for that to happen. It was just...instinct for me." 

Still Dawn didn't say anything. 

Not knowing what else to do, Spike reached out his hand to take hers in. Some kind of gesture he wasn't really sure why he was doing. It must come with the soul territory or something. "It's still me," he said gently. For a split second, Spike thought she might actually take his hand. She extended her hand outwards, and just when he thought she was going to grasp it, she grabbed her book bag which was lying on the floor next to him. 

Spike lowered his hand in defeat and walked over to his bed and sat down. 

Dawn walked over to the ladder and hesitating before she climbed up. "Was it worth it?" she asked, her voice cracking a bit. 

Spike glanced up, amazed that she was still speaking to him. He already knew the answer. He would have known it even if he didn't have his soul. 

"Hell yeah," he replied as Dawn gave him a half smile, then disappeared up the ladder and into the sunlight where Spike could never follow. 

***

On the other side of town, another blonde beauty, counterpart Buffy, sat in her luxurious apartment being waited on hand and foot by goblin like followers. And like Buffy, death was a specialty for this woman, but by far more powerful. Her Goddess abilities outweighed the mere slayers times a hundred. But all of Glorificus' power was useless because of one simple thing. The key. 

"Where's my key, damn it!" Glory bellowed though her apartment. She was hear by everyone in the living space, even Ben who was trapped away in her deep inside, a slave to her body. 

One of Glory's minions staggered towards her. "Oh, beautiful, powerful Glorificus. We have just received word that the key is on the loose, walking around with no protection from the slayer. Would it be wise if I, and your devoted adherents go after the innocent?"

Glory smiled and stood up, ecstatic to hear such good news. "No. I will go after the girl myself. You stupid zombies couldn't capture her if she were already tied up and on my patio. This is the type of job a woman has to do herself."

"Yes, your excellence. Your holiness. Your.....exuberance."

Glory rolled her eyes and looked in the mirror. "But I can't go out looking like this," she said, tisking at herself. She had on Ben's clothes. The changes come so quick that she'd become used to popping up in the weirdest places, but she wasn't used to his dreaded style. "Go. Fetch me my red Gucci dress with the red heels. It's time to collect my key and be placed back in my rightful place among the Gods."

***

Dawn sighed as she looked up into the sunny light as she walked from Spike's hideout. Ever since Buffy's talk about souls, Dawn really wanted one. She felt incomplete without one. She wondered if she would feel things differently if she had one. Sure, she had lots of feelings, but it was all just programmed into her, so to say. She's not natural and something that's not natural doesn't have a soul. Dawn stopped walking to glance down at a pebble on the pavement. _I bet even that rock has a soul. Just why can't I?_

"Uh...Dawn?" a voice asked out of nowhere. Dawn spun around to be face to face with Xander and Anya. 

"H-hi," Dawn stammered. _Great. I'm busted now. I could count on Spike not telling Buffy I skipped school, but not Anya. She has such a big mouth. _

Xander narrowed his eyes in confusion. "Did...I miss something? Aren't you supposed to be in school?"

"Wha-?" Dawn asked. She glanced down at her watch. It was 3 o'clock on the dot. "School's already out, Xander," Dawn said calmly. "I was just walking-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Anya interrupted. "Isn't your school in that direction?" Anya pointed from where her and Xander were coming from. "Why would you be walking the other way?"

"Well, there's an explanation for that," Dawn said trying to think fast. 

"And isn't your house in that same direction?" Anya interrupted once again. 

Dawn nodded. "Yeah. but-"

"Ooh! I'm learning my way around Sunnydale already, Xander," Anya squealed. "And Xander and I live that way," she continued, pointing to their right. 

"Anya," Xander said, stopping her. He gave her a look that said 'you're overdoing it' and she instantly shut up. 

"I was just going to the Magic Shoppe so I could help Giles out," Dawn answered, thankful that Anya talks a lot or she wouldn't have come up with an excuse. 

"Oh, well we just came from there," Anya said. "The Magic Shoppe is in that direction." She turned around and pointed to where they were just coming from. 

Xander ignored her. "But Dawn, the Magic Box closes early on Friday's. You know that." 

Dawn could feel her face getting hot. She hated to lie and could never think of something off the top of her head. "Uh...well. I told Giles that I'd help him stock some new items that just got shipped in." 

"Done," Anya perked, giving Dawn a proud smile. "I did everything and I even alphabetized all the items by category."

"Ok," Dawn said slowly. She had nothing else. Her mind went completely blank. "Well, I guess I better be going." She started to walk off, but Xander stopped her by grabbing her elbow. 

"No, wait. We'll walk you home. Glory could be out looking for you."

Dawn began to feel like she was being suffocated. They were asking so many questions. It was like she was being interrogated or something. "It's ok. I can walk on my own." She pulled out of his grasp a little bit. She walked past the two in the direction of the Magic Box. 

Xander and Anya just looked at each other. "Uh, I don't think you understand, Dawnie," Anya said, following her close behind. Dawn turned around to hear her. "Glory is out looking for you."

When Dawn didn't say anything and just gave her a blank look, Anya repeated, saying each word slowly. "Glory-is-out-looking-for-you," 

"I heard you the first time," Dawn said growing irritated. She hated the way everybody was treating her like a child....she was older than all of them if you think about it! They should be listening to her. 

"But then what happens after that is if you get caught. Poof. The end of the world. Dimensions collide, demons swarm the earth, and I'll never get to learn anything about little old Sunnydale again." Anya made little hand gestures to go along with her little lecture. 

"Anya's right," Xander said. "Well...at least part of it. It's not safe with you here alone."

Dawn sighed. "Well I don't want to go home right now. Can you walk me over to Willow's?"

"Sure," Xander said. "There's no harm in that."

As if on cue, Willow turned the corner guiding Tara by her side, nearly bumping into her friends. 

"Willow!" Xander said, stating the obvious. He looked at Tara who was leaning on Willow for support. "And Tara."

"We were just talking about you," Anya said. "We were going to take Dawn over to your house Willow."

Willow glanced down at Dawn. "Well, ok. I just need to stop at the Magic Box real quick. Giles asked me to stop over to help him with some sort of incantation. He thinks that it may help Tara."

Dawn looked at Tara with guilt. It was her fault that this happened to her and all those other people. She truly was evil...

"Ok," Dawn said. "I guess I'll see you guys later," she stated, urging them to leave.

Anya gave Willow a big smile. "You live in that direction."

"Uh...thank you," Willow said. "Now I know in case I get lost....." She looked at Xander for an explanation, but he just shrugged it off. 

"We'll be going now," Xander said. 

"Such pretty green light!" Tara exclaimed. She was acting as if she saw the most beautiful thing in the world. She reached out to touch Dawn's hair, but then pulled back as if Dawn was electricity. "Such purity." Tara's head drooped onto Willow's shoulder as if talking were a task in itself. 

Dawn started to feel rather uncomfortable with Tara's crazy talk. Some people who were walking by looked at Dawn as if she were an alien. 

"Uh, you think you can handle this, Willow?" Xander asked.

Willow looked at Tara then back at Xander and nodded. "Alright. See you guys later." He grabbed Anya's hand and they walked off together. 

Willow looked at Dawn and gave her a smile. "Uh, does Buffy know that you're going to be with me?"

Dawn shook her head. "I'll call her from the Magic Box to let her know. Don't want her to worry. Can't ever let Buffy worry."

Willow detected a little bit of spite and sarcasm in Dawn's voice. "Buffy has a lot on her shoulders right now. I know you know this, but everything just came crashing down on her at once. It's hard."

Dawn's face softened and she nodded. "I know." She looked at the struggling red head and gave her a hand with Tara. "Let me help you." Dawn supported half of Tara's weight onto her shoulder. She could feel her chest tightening up inside. She never meant for any of this to happen. "Willow," Dawn said. "I'm really sorry that I did this to Tara."

Willow slowed her pacing and looked at Dawn. "You didn't do this. Glory did this. And don't blame yourself. It doesn't help at all to take all the pressure. Just look at Buffy." 

Dawn laughed at that as she remembered the time Buffy zonked out. That was pretty funny in her opinion. 

Within minutes the trio were finally inside of the Magic Box. It was rather dark inside and the usual crowded place was eerily empty. They were never used to seeing the store closed. 

"Giles!" Willow called through the store. She placed Tara down in one of the plush couches and gave Dawn a look as if to say 'watch her for me.'

Giles walked into the front of the store with a book in his hand and his glasses in the other. "Oh, hello Willow and Tara." He put his glasses back over his eyes and looked at who else was there. "Hello to you too, Dawn. I wasn't expecting you here any time soon. I don't think we-do you want something to drink? I think we have some...milk or something in the back refrigerator."

"No thanks," Dawn said. "I think I'll just take a look around instead."

Giles nodded as he and Willow sat down at a table next to Tara. He placed the book on the stand and began to explain to Willow the incantation. 

Meanwhile, Dawn began to explore the shelves, looking to see if she could spot anything on souls. In the matter of a few minutes she had scanned over seven shelves in the store and she came up with nothing. It began to seem hopeless until she bumped into the ladder that stretches to the small balcony overlooking the store. Up there were the most dangerous spells. Spells that even Willow and Tara weren't up to date with. Those were just the kind of spells she needed. 

Looking back at Giles and Willow, Dawn climbed up the ladder, careful not to make too much noise. When she was safe on top, she glanced around at the familiar place. This is the same place where she found the book that brought her mother back from the dead. She didn't want to head in that direction again...

Dawn scanned some other books and finally found a book that read "Lost Souls." She reached for the book and pulled it out from between the other books. "Lost Souls" was extremely dusty and she had to hold back a sneeze. Dawn whispered the name of the book as she opened it up to a random page. Pictures of different types of beings being tortured by un-nameable demons graced the pages of the book along with a load of text. She winced as she looked at a picture of a fourteenth century human being stabbed with tons of spears and stakes just to receive his soul. It was unnerving. 

Still, Dawn forced herself to continue through the pages. She was determined to do this. She was going to live as a real human with a real soul no matter what possible. She flipped through some more pages until she came to a heading that said "Retrieving your Lost Soul."

"Bingo," Dawn whispered to herself. She tore out the pages of the instructions and looked at the ingredients. "Tablespoon of....witches blood?" Dawn questioned. She thought of how she was going to get witches blood on such short notice, but then continued on reading. "Uh...breath of the being whose soul wants to be reclaimed, a piece of beings hair, witches sand, sacred stones, and....the guidance of one who..."

"Dawn?" Willow called out. 

Quickly, Dawn stuffed the papers in her pocket and stood up. "Uh, yeah?" she asked a little bit shakily. She was starting to be completely on edge. Kind of like Buffy. 

Willow stared up at Dawn. "Is everything ok?"

"Yep," Dawn replied. She gave Willow a weak smile. 

"You...didn't see anything up there that you shouldn't have, did you?" Willow asked. "That balcony is restricted. You know that."

Dawn began to climb down the ladder. "Yeah, I know. And no I didn't see anything I wasn't supposed to. I was just looking around a little bit to pass the time."

Reluctantly Willow nodded. "Alright then. Well, let's get going. The incantation's a flop. Giles said he'd keep doing more research in case he finds anything else."

"Alrighty then," Dawn replied and followed Willow to where Tara and Giles sat quietly.

"Oh, hey," Willow said, suddenly remembering. "You forgot to call Buffy to tell her that you're going to be coming over."

"Oh yeah. I'll do that when I get to your house, if that's ok."

"Sure." Willow reached down and lifted Tara gently from the couch. Giles assisted her. "Whelp, we better get going. I'll talk to you later, Giles and I hope that maybe you can find another incantation spell that might work next time." 

"I'll keep searching. You three be careful now."

***

Buffy stood in the lone house, waiting for nearly an hour. Dawn still wasn't home from school and it was making her seriously worried now. She wouldn't mind it so much if she would have just called and told her that she was going to be late. 

"I got to go look for her," Buffy said to herself. She grabbed her house keys and pocketed them when she hear the phone ring. 

Buffy stopped short and stared at the phone for a second. "That better be Dawn," she muttered. She strode over to the telephone and picked it up. "Hello?" she asked. 

"Buffy, it's me," Dawn said from the other line. 

"Thank God," Buffy said. "Now, where the hell have you been?" 

"Calm down, Buffy. I'm over Willow's house. I went with her to the Magic Box after school and I'm going to spend the night over here, ok?"

Buffy hesitated for a second. Maybe Willow's house wasn't the best place to be. She already had enough on her mind with Tara and having to protect both her and Dawn if there was a need would be too tough on her. "I don't know, Dawn," Buffy said. "I'd feel a lot more safer if you were here with me."

"Please," Dawn pleaded. "We'll be careful. Besides, Glory knows where we live. She'll be expecting me to be home with you and she could kidnap me and then the whole world could end. Just like that."

"Well, alright," Buffy agreed. "Just make sure that you don't go out after dark. Keep the weapons in easy access spots. Oh, and make sure that Willow casts a protection spell on her house. Just in case..."

"I know, Buffy. I got to go now. I'll talk to you later."

"Alright. Bye." There was a slight pause. "Wait!"

Dawn began to grow irritated with Buffy. "What?"

"Call me if anything happens. I'll be there in a heartbeat."

"Ok. Bye."

"And make sure that Tara eats her vegetables. We want her to get better."

"Ok!"

"And one more thing!" Buffy hurried.

__

Click. It was too late. Dawn already hung up the phone. 

Buffy placed the receiver back on the cradle. "I love you," she finished in the quiet house. 

***

"What'd Buffy say?" Willow asked as she walked into the guest room with a box of juice for Dawn.

"Uh, the usual. 'Where've you been, young lady?' 'Don't go out after dark.' Blah, blah, blah." Dawn took the bottle of juice and drank it quickly. "Anyways, she wants me to be home in an hour."

Willow frowned a little bit. "Oh. And I was just about to get out my favorite movie. Shrek."

"Saw it a hundred times already," Dawn replied. "I can recite the whole thing by heart."

Willow gave a little chuckle and glanced back at Tara who was laying on the couch in the living room watching Tom and Jerry. A look of pity came over her eyes, but she quickly shielded her pain from Dawn. 

"So, what do you want to do until you leave? Play Parcheesi? Uh, Monopoly? No, that's too long....how about-"

"Let's cook," Dawn suggested. 

Willow looked at Dawn with a blank expression. "Cook? But...I don't know how to-"

"Neither do I. But it'll be fun." Dawn said. She stood up from the couch she was sitting on and strode over to the kitchen. 

"Well, what do you want to cook? Something that requires boiling water? Or something that requires hard work?"

"Hard work."

Willow pouted. "I was afraid you'd say that." 

Dawn looked through some of the cupboards. She couldn't find anything in there that would serve as a good test subject. After having no success, Dawn walked over to the refrigerator. She opened the freezer and peered through the icicles. There was frozen chicken lying in there, frozen vegetables, and ice. That was it. 

"Well, we don't have many choices," Dawn said. She gave a little look of discouragement and looked inside the fridge. There wasn't much in there either. Just the necessities. Milk, juice, pop. But she did see something that made her smile. 

"Cookies!" Dawn exclaimed. She reached in and pulled out the cookie dough. She plopped it onto the counter. 

"Cookies? Good idea," Willow agreed. "That's really simple and doesn't require mixing stuff." 

"Alright, I need a knife," Dawn said. 

Willow pointed to the cupboard next to her and Dawn peered inside. She grabbed a large pointy knife and gave a side glance at Willow who was busying herself with the oven. 

"Uh, how big should I-?"

"Nooooo!" a bellow erupted from the living room. Willow spun around in horror as she realized it was Tara who was screaming. She rushed into the living room. "What's wrong? What is it?" 

"The-the mouse is-" Tara struggled with her words. "-is going-going to die!" She pointed frantically at the television. 

Willow looked at the cartoon to see Jerry trapped in a corner by Tom who was holding a pitchfork and gave a soft sigh. "It's-it's ok, Tara," she soothed. "The mouse isn't going to die, see?" 

They watched Tom and Jerry for a few more seconds and just like she predicted it, Jerry ducked into his mouse hole just before Tom could get to him. Tara gave a squeal of approval and continued to watch. Feeling the need to, Willow sat there with Tara for a few more seconds, just in case Jerry was in a sticky situation again. 

"Uh, Willow?" Dawn asked suddenly. 

Reflexively, Willow stood up and turned around to face Dawn. She just opened her mouth to reply, but instead she looked down at her arm in shock. She had a long slash across her forearm. 

"Oh, my God!" Dawn said. "I'm-I'm so sorry Willow. I didn't mean to. I just wanted to know how big you wanted me to make the cookies." 

Willow looked at the cut. It wasn't that bad, but it was bleeding pretty quickly. "It's ok, Dawn. It's just a scratch. But can you get me a rag or something?"

Dawn turned to leave just as another bellow came out from Tara. "Nooooooo!" Thinking that Jerry was cornered once again in the cartoon, Willow turned back, but then realized that she cried out because of her cut. Tears welled in her eyes and she began to cry out. 

"Tara, it's ok," Willow soothed. "It's going to be fine. It's just a scratch."

Dawn came back with a rag from the sink and Willow placed it over her cut. "It'll be ok, Tara. You'll see." She held onto it for a few seconds, expecting the bleeding to stop, or at least slow, but it didn't. It just continued to soak the rag. 

"Uh..." Willow said. "Here." She gave the rag to Dawn and placed her hand over her wound, chanting silently to herself. A bright green began to emanate from her arm and a second later, she lifted up bloody hand to reveal that the scratch was no longer there. "All better."

Tara stopped crying for a second and stared at the flawless arm. 

"Uh...I'll get rid of this," Dawn interrupted. She took the rag into the kitchen out of sight from the two. But instead of throwing the rag away, she placed it into a sandwich bag and hid it in her book bag. 

A few seconds later, Dawn crept to the bookcase where the red-head witch kept all her potions and ingredients. She dug into her pocket for the spell and read the other ingredients. Witches sand and sacred rocks. She opened it up and pulled out a bottle of the witches sand and then the sacred stones that possessed the powers of past witches. She didn't know how many she needed, so she grabbed four. Quickly, she placed them into her book bag along with the rag and closed it. 

"Uh, Willow!" Dawn called. "I just remembered that I had to do something. I need to go right away." Dawn tugged the bag on her shoulders and pulled her hair out from underneath the obstructing item. 

"What?" Willow said. She walked into the kitchen with a worried look. "Is everything alright?"

Dawn gave her a reassuring nod. "Yeah. I just remembered that I had to tutor somebody in Algebra at five o'clock and I better get going if I don't want to be late."

"But what about the cookies?" Willow asked as she followed Dawn to the front door. 

Dawn turned around. "We'll do it next time. I promise." From where she was standing, Dawn peered over Willow's shoulder. "Bye, Tara. I'll see you later."

"Bye, Dawn," she replied weakly. She gave her a small smile and continued to watch cartoons. 

"Well, be careful," Willow said. "And call me if you need anything or if anything happens. Ok? Do you need a stake? You should always carry an extra stake in your book bag in case something happens."

Dawn rolled her eyes. Her and Buffy were a lot alike in different ways. "I have one! Bye, Buff!" Dawn called back jokingly. 

It flew right over Willow's head though as she waved to the younger girl, then closed the door. 

After a few minutes of walking, Dawn looked back at Willow's house to see if she was watching. Unfortunately, her eyesight wasn't a hundred percent so she just assumed that the coast was clear. She did a full U-turn in the other direction and began walking towards Spike's place. In order for this to work, she had to do it when he was sleeping during the day or else if he knew what she was doing, he wouldn't cooperate. 

Dawn continued to walk in his direction, making sure that she wasn't being followed by any of Glory's minions. Dawn looked at her watch. It took her forty five minutes to walk to Spikes....that should be plenty of time for him to leave since it usually got dark around six o'clock. 

Being as quiet as she could be, Dawn tiptoed to the nearest bush and hid inside of it. She felt a little grossed out by the thought of the bugs that could be crawling through her hair at the moment, but she quickly pushed that thought aside and concentrated on Spike's lair. 

About fifteen minutes passed by and it was already dark. The only light you could see was the faint pink in the sky from the sun which already set. Dawn could feel a tingle in the back of her neck as she realized she was messing with some serious stuff. Buffy would absolutely kill her if she knew she was doing this or anything with magic in that case. Dawn pushed that thought aside too as she peered through the dark. "Ok," she whispered. "He should be leaving any minute now..." 

__

Three Hours Later

"When is he going to leave!" Dawn practically yelled. She looked at her watch. It was nine o'clock. Well after dark. She couldn't see his hideout at all anymore. It was way too dark for her. She closed her eyes for a second and felt her whole body relax. All she wanted to do was sleep. She felt her head bob down and quickly opened her eyes. "Don't fall asleep," she whispered to herself. "He better leave soon or I'm gonna drag him out myself..."

Just as the words came out of her mouth, the door to Spike's hideout opened and he took a few steps into the darkness. He took a deep breath into the air and closed the door. She lost sight of him after that because his clothes blended in with his surroundings so well. She could only see a faint white that was the top of his head as he started to walk off. 

"Go, go, go, go," she whispered. Her legs were numb from so much crouching and she was sure that she probably extracted head lice from the bushes.

As soon as she opened her mouth, Spike stopped in his tracks and took a look around. 

__

Oh, no. You're such an idiot, Dawn, she thought to herself, She held her breath as she pleaded for him to leave. 

Another moment passed and Spike reached into his pocket and pulled something out. It was his cigarettes and his lighter. He popped it in his mouth and lit it up, providing Dawn with a better visual of him as the fire cast eerie shadows across his hollow cheekbones. Then it was dark again as he placed the lighter back in his pocket and continued to walk off without a second glance back. 

After waiting a few minutes to see if he would return for a forgotten item or something, Dawn finally crept out from the small space she was hiding in. Every bone in her body cracked as she stood up and stretched. Quickly, before being seen, Dawn crept into Spike's lair. There were two parts to it. There was the top level that really wasn't anything besides the entrance, then when you walked down the ladder, it led to his place. Dawn decided it was better to stay on the top level until Spike got home. There were only a limited amount of places she could hide in his hardly furnished hideout, so it was best she stay up there. She picked the furthest corner from the door and dragged a crate so she could be concealed behind it.

Only a few minutes passed and Dawn's eyes drifted closed and she fell into a deep sleep. 

***

Spike stood outside of Buffy's house, watching it as if her were her guardian angel. But an angel he was not. He threw down his last cigarette and stepped on it, glancing down at all the butts he left behind under her large oak tree. Some of them still burned faintly as the cool night's breeze fueled them. Spike crouched down underneath the tree and rested his head against the trunk. He didn't know why he was here. He was really just wasting his time. Buffy would never love him. Not after all he did to her. All the pain he caused to her family. Still though, he felt this yearning to be as close to her as possible. He felt this need to protect her though she very well did not need any. In fact, _she _should be protecting _him._

Spike sat as stiff as a board when he saw Buffy's silhouette from inside the house. She seemed to be pacing back and forth as if something was worrying her. Her moderately long hair flipped as she suddenly turned around to pick up something....a phone. She talked for a few seconds and then hung up, grabbing a jacket on the way out. 

Spike pressed himself against the tree even closer to prevent from being seen. He glanced back at Buffy who walked down the walkway, stake at hand. She was almost all the way down when she stopped. She glanced down at the front of the walkway where she saw a cigarette butt lying there. She gave out an irritated sigh. "Come out, Spike. I know you're there." 

Spike's heart jumped when she said his name. He knew that she felt his presence even before she found the cigarette. He saw it in the way she walked down cautiously. Also because his late night visits were becoming so ritualistic she expected him to be there. Still, he took a deep breath and stood up to face her, putting on his coldest face possible.

"Hey there, luv," he said. 

"What are you doing here, Spike?" she asked him. "I've got patrolling to go do."

"Well, that's why I'm here. I'm gonna help you," he replied. There was a pause then he remembered something. "Well what about the little pigeon? You just gonna leave her there all by herself?"

Buffy started walking. He followed close behind. "Not that it's any of your business, but Dawn's at Willow's house. I've got to stop over there for some quick supplies, then I can start patrolling." 

"I'll come with," Spike said. 

"Great."

***

Willow was reading a book when a loud banging at her front door made her jump. She placed the book down and walked to the door cautiously. "Who is it?" she asked, her curiosity taking over her. 

"It's me. Buffy."

"And me. Your friendly neighborhood vampire."

Willow groaned as she opened the door. "Hi, Buffy. Nice to see you." 

Spike seemed a little offended by her ignoring his presence, though in reality he couldn't care less if she acknowledged him or not. He still just liked to annoy them from time to time. "And what about me? Aren't you happy to see me?"

Buffy walked into the house and Spike tried to follow, but was suddenly pushed back against his will. "What's that?" he questioned. "You're blocking me from your house? And after all we've been through..." He feigning his distress. 

"It's a new kind of shield that only blocks assholes," Willow said suddenly. 

Spike was taken aback by her bluntness, but then quickly recovered by chuckling. "I didn't know you had it in you," he said. "Bravo." 

Buffy ignored Spike and walked with Willow into the kitchen while Spike stood at the doorway, whistling a tune. 

"Giles called me and told me there's an infestation of vampires in the cemetery. I need some more supplies. All my stakes are dulled out or broken and I have no axes."

"I have just the things you need," Willow said. She walked over to the living room and pulled a large chest out from behind the couch. She opened it and inside was some heavy artillery. "Pick your choice," Willow said. 

Buffy looked through the chest and grabbed the lightest weapons she could find. She placed them into her coat pockets and closed the chest. "That's it I guess," Buffy said. She walked to the front door and turned to face Willow. "I'll see you later." 

She turned to leave with Spike, but then turned around once again. "Oh, and how's Dawn?"

"Hmm?" Willow asked. "Uh...well, she's good the last time I saw her. You should be the who knows anyways. Is Xander over your house watching her right now or something?"

Buffy gave her a blank look and things started to begin to fit together. "You mean she's not here spending the night?"

Willow furrowed her eyebrows together. "No. She came over, but left at around five o'clock. She said that she had to go tutor somebody for Algebra." 

"Uh-oh," Spike tisked. "Liar, liar, pants on fire," he said. 

Buffy looked back and elbowed him in the face, growing frustrated and worried. He stumbled backwards and fell to the pavement. 

"Ow!" he said, clutching his forehead. 

"Oh, no. Something must have happened. Willow, you stay here incase she stops by or if you find out anything. Call Giles and tell him the situation and ask him to help us. Spike, me and you split up after we stop by my house again. I need to make sure she hasn't called or anything."

Spike stood up. "What makes you think I'm gonna listen to you?" Spike mumbled. "You just hit me in the forehead!"

Buffy's face grew dark as she grabbed Spike's collar and brought his face close to hers. "I'm gonna do a lot more if you don't help me, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Spike mumbled once again. "Heard it all before." 

"Be careful, Buffy," Willow called as the two departed from her doorstep. "You too, Spike. I guess."

Spike just waved his hand in the air, acknowledging her effort to care for him.

Buffy took quick long strides to her house, feeling anxious. She glanced back at Spike who trailed behind a little, despite his tall stature. "Hurry up, Spike. We need to hurry home. I have this awful feeling that Glory has her."

Spike caught up with her quickly. "I don't think she got her, luv. If she did, the dimensions would be crashing right now probably." He tried his best to comfort her.

Buffy was still doubtful. "Let's hope you're right." She ran the rest of the way to her house and up the stairs and Spike followed her into the house. The light was blinking on the answering machine. "There's a message!" she said hopefully. She pressed the button quickly and waited for the message to play back.

"Uh, Buffy, it's Willow. I called Giles and told him that-"

"Crap!" Buffy yelled and stopped the message, She slammed her fist into the table and took a deep breath. "Ok, now what me and you have to do is..." Buffy trailed off. 

Spike caught the look on her face. "What is it?"

She motioned for Spike to be quiet and walked into the living room. She could feel a strange presence. She stared in the dark room, feeling a bit confused. She could have swore she left the light on.

Buffy stood there in the room quietly. She then turned back to Spike. "I think we should-" 

"Watch it!" Spike yelled. He grabbed Buffy and pulled her out of the way of a demon...wait, it wasn't just any random demon. It was one of Glory's minions. 

Buffy spun around and put her guard up. "How'd they get in? What about the shield?"

Spike shook his head. "Don't know, luv. Guess those witches shields aren't what they used to be." He lunged forward and tried to attack the minion, but he just dogged out of the way. 

Spike reached for the demon once again and succeeded in grabbing it, putting it in a choke hold. "Got you now, huh?" Spike said, breathing a little hard. 

"Please don't kill me!" the demon croaked out.

Spike squeezed his arms together tighter. "And why wouldn't we want to do that? It's so much fun killing demons who stray from the pack." The demon's breathing was shorter and lighter. "Tell us what you want," Spike said. 

"I'll tell you nothing until you let go of me."

Still having a rough hold, Spike looked at Buffy for her consent. She gave a slight nod and he let go of the warty creature. 

"That's more like it," the demon said. He straightened his garb and took a deep breath. He glanced at the two of them and made a run for it. 

"Oh, no you don't," Spike said. He grabbed him from the back and threw him over her shoulder. He landed on the coffee table, breaking it into hundreds of pieces. 

"I'll never tell you!" The demon said. "No amount of torture can make me reveal that-"

Buffy strode over to him menacingly and grabbed the collar of his shirt. "No amount of torture, huh?" she asked. She reached into her coat and pulled out a stake.

"I'll tell," the demon rasped. "Just don't kill me." Buffy still held onto him, making sure that he didn't try to get away again. "We came for the innocent. The key."

"The key," Buffy repeated. She let the demon go. Glory obviously didn't have Dawn. That was the upside. The downside was that Buffy didn't have her either. 

"Get out of here," Buffy said to the minion. "Tell Glory that if she wants the key, she's going to have to come for it herself because you guys aren't doing a very good job of it."

The demon didn't say anything in reply. He just ran off into the night. 

"Wha-?" Spike started. "What did you do that for? We could have killed him. After everything they've done to you, I would have jumped at the chance to pluck every wart off their body."

Buffy folded her arms in defense. "They don't have Dawn. They don't know anything. And when Glory comes for her next time, I'll be ready for her."

Spike still scoffed and muttered under his breath, "You said that last time, didn't you?"

Buffy grew irritated. "Spike, if you have something to say, please, just say it. Don't hide it."

"You do it too, Slayer. Don't deny it, either. You hide things all the time. I can see it in your eyes. You hide things from your friends, you hide them from Dawn, and you hide them from me. So don't be too quick to judge."

"Ok, I don't really have time for this. Dawn's missing. That's all I know. She's not with Willow, Glory doesn't have her. The only other person I can think of is Xander and Anya, but I doubt that they know where she is." Buffy could feel herself begin to lose it. "We could try some of the kids from school, but it's late and I'm sure they don't know where she is." She began to pace the room. "Uh...we can-"

The phone rang, interrupting her in mid-sentence. She dashed to it and picked it up, nearly dropping it in the process. 

"Dawn?" She asked. "Is that you?"

"Uh, no, Buffy. It's me, Giles."

Buffy's heart sank. "Giles, thank God. I can't find her and I don't know what to do. Do you know where she could be?"

She could hear the exasperation in his voice. "Unfortunately no. We have to do a sweep of Sunnydale. She can't of gone far."

Buffy nodded, taking a deep breath. "Ok. I need you to call Xander and Anya. Tell them what's going on so we can search. Spike and I will get started." She hung up the phone before he could say anything else. 

"So, that's the master plan, is it?" Spike said. 

"That's the only thing we got," she replied. "For right now, you and I need to split up and search in different ways. Meet back up here in an hour to report if you see Dawn, ok?"

Spike nodded carelessly. "Alright, Commander Buff."

***

Glory walked the dark streets of Sunnydale, desperately searching for the key. She had been searching for the past few hours and she came up with nothing. 

"Damn it!" She screeched, irritated. She slammed her fist into a nearby building, crushing the bricks as if they were made of butter. 

She dug her hand out from the bricks and stared at it. Her knuckles were bright red. Without really thinking about it, Glory brought her hand to her face and licked the wound, just to see what it tasted like. There was only one word to describe it: disgusting. 

"I hate this filthy body!" Glory raged as she continued to walk down the streets. People gave her weird glances and whispered amongst themselves. 

"Glorificus!" a voice called. 

Glory stopped and turned around to face her most trusted demon. He sauntered to her and bowed at her feet. "Did you get it?"

Her devoted follower hesitated. "No, your wonderfulness, but I can assure you that the slayer doesn't know where the key is as well."

Glory could feel her rage rising. "And you expect me to believe that's good news?" she screamed. She brought her hand back and slapped him across the head. He fell backwards, but quickly got to his feet.

"Go. Continue searching," Glory commanded. "I'll be home. If you find her, don't scare her away. Call me and let me know where she is. I'll take care of her myself."

***

Five hours past, but it seemed much too quick for Buffy, who sat on her porch steps; the check point. She had met up with the gang every hour and they still haven't found anything. She was just waiting for everyone else to arrive. 

"Where are you, Dawn?" Buffy whispered as she looked up at the fading moon. The sun was just beginning to rise. The pink light through the sky made everything a little better to see. "You have to be alright. You have to be."

"She's fine," a voice said from behind the shadows of the house. Buffy didn't even jump. Having Spike live in her shadows was something she was getting used to fast. Almost too fast. 

"How do you know?" Buffy said. "She could be dead for all we know. Or lying somewhere hurt."

Spike sat down next to Buffy. "Nah. She's a big girl. She can take care of herself."

Buffy turned away from him and scoffed. "What do you know..." It wasn't a question. 

Spike took a little offense to that. "Well, I've been living for 200 years, so I would say that I know a lot."

Silence passed between the two. There was so much tension between them at this point. 

"Any word about Dawn?" another voice asked. This time it was Xander and Anya. They both stood in front of Buffy and Spike looking as tired as can be. 

Buffy shook her head and Giles walked up to the porch. "Nothing?" he assumed. 

They all shook their heads.

Giles sighed. "Well, I don't think we'll be successful in finding her when we're all too tired to move an inch. We should all get home and get some rest."

Spike stood up and stretched. "Now that's something I can agree with you on, old man," he said. "Anyways, the suns coming up and it's past my bed time." He looked at the depressed blonde girl. "I'll come back and help as soon as it gets dark," he said to her. 

He half expected her to ignore him, but she looked up and gave him a blank stare. "Thanks."

He gave her a small smile before he walked off briskly. 

"So," Xander said. "What are we going to do? Are we going to meet up later and look some more?"

Buffy nodded. "As soon as we're all rested in case of a fight then we'll start searching again. But I...I don't think I can sleep knowing that she's out there with Glory after her."

Anya took a step towards Buffy. "Well, look at it this way. If Dawn is dead by someone other than Glory, then that's a good thing, right? No dimensions colliding...."Everyone was staring at her and she could feel the heat rising to her face. She must have said something wrong. "No end of the world.....did I-"

"Stop," Xander said, grabbing her shoulders. "Just don't...say anything else."

Anya looked hurt and deep down inside she really was. Xander never took her side no matter what she said. It was giving her doubts about their relationship. She knew from experience....any boyfriend who takes the sides of others really didn't love you. 

"Uh, I should be going now," Giles said. He bent down and gave Buffy a hug. "Everything will be fine. I promise."

Buffy forced a smile and watched as he walked off. 

"We should be going too," Xander said. 

"Bye, Buff," Anya said, seeming sincerely regretful. "Sorry if I said anything wrong."

"That's ok, Anya. See you later." 

Buffy sat there on her porch a little while longer, watching the sun rise. It was a beautiful sight. As she stood up, she felt her heart hope that Spike made it home safe without being burnt to a crisp.

***

" 'This is what it's like when world's collide,' " Spike sang to himself as he just reached his house just before the sun rose. He locked closed the door behind him and paced the first level of his lair. He stood there for a few seconds, wondering where on earth Dawn could be. " 'So this is what it's like.' " He gave it another thought, but then climbed down the ladder. He was beat from the nights searching. Now it was time for him to sleep. No worrying about Dawn, about Buffy, or about anything else.

Spike took off his shirt and threw it in the corner. Not finding enough energy to take off the rest of his clothes, he fell forward onto his bed, causing his rusty old bed springs to creak and groan loudly. 

"Huh?" Dawn groaned. She nearly fell forward. "He's here?" she asked herself. She glanced down at her watch. It read four thirty in the morning. She shook her head to clear it. She was seriously lacking some sleep and she had plenty of time to conduct this spell thingy. She could do it later in the day. Dawn rested her head back down against the crate and closed her eyes. "I can't wait to get my soul," she whispered into the darkness, then drifted off to sleep. 

A few hours past when Dawn awoke once again. She heard some kind of rustling nearby. Thinking it was Spike, she held her breath and waited for him to show up and catch her. She forced herself to be quiet and continued listening. She could hear Spike snoring from downstairs.....it couldn't have been him. Then she heard it again....rustling. 

She stood up and straightened her clothing. Cautiously she walked to the door and cracked it open a bit. The morning light seeped through the small crack and she shielded her eyes, trying to see what was out there. There was nothing. She closed the door once again and waited a few seconds before moving so her eyes could become readjusted to the dark. 

"It's just your imagination," she said and walked back over to her spot. She looked at her watch. It read nine in the morning. "I guess I better get this started."

***

Glory laid in her bed, an arm covering her eyes to shield her from the sun. She was having such a nice sleep. Dreaming about her finally getting the key. Well, she was having a good dream...until the phone rang. 

"Ugh!" she groaned and reached over to grab the phone.

"Glorificus?"

"What?" she yelled. "I'm busy right now."

"I know where she is."

Glory's mood suddenly changed for the better. "The key?"

"Yes, your elegance."

"Ok. Just make sure that she doesn't go anywhere. Where is she at?"

"She's at the vampire's lair. The vampire who befriends the slayer."

Glory hung up the phone and gave a shriek of happiness. "Ohh! I'm gonna get my key!" She stood up from the bed and rummaged through her closet. "But what am I going to wear?"

***

"Morning, Giles!" Anya said chirpily. She danced around the Magic Box happily, completely awake and ready for the task of selling and retailing. 

"Morning, Anya," Giles said, yawning. He walked over to one of the couches and sunk into the soft material. "Where's Xander?" 

"He's up in the restricted area sleeping. You know, I don't understand how you humans are not morning people. Morning is the loveliest time of the day."

"Uh, quite, quite, yes," Giles mumbled, not really listening to her. He closed his eyes for a split second. Anya wouldn't have it though. 

"Oh, no you don't. You do not sleep on business hours." She grabbed him and dragged him to his feet. "Go do something. Make yourself useful."

Giles nodded sleepily and walked over to the ladder leading to the restricted area. He climbed it and found Xander laying there with his hand over his face. 

"Come to escape Miss Morning Sunshine?" Xander asked. 

"Very much," Giles agreed. He laid on his side, facing the books while Xander got up.

"It's no use," Xander said. "No matter how much I try to sleep, I can still hear her chirpy voice. I can't take it anymore." He stretched and yawned. "I'm gonna go down there and try to calm her down. I think she drank like five cups of coffee this morning, but it was really more like just back sugar."

"You do that," Giles mumbled. 

"Oh, I just remembered," Xander said before he left. He bent down and picked up a large book that had been laying there open. "I found this lying here," he said. "I think a page's torn out or something."

This suddenly caught Giles interest. He sat up and looked at the book Xander was talking about. 

Xander continued started climbing down the ladder. 

"Wait!" Giles said to him. "Where-where did you find this?"

"Right there," Xander said. "I found it when we got here to open the store." He paused. "Why, is there something wrong?"

Giles read the next page after and the page before, trying to determine what was missing. 

"Lost souls," Giles said. "Somebody came up here and tore out a page for directions on how to retrieve a lost soul. The page after it is the incantation for a safe return. Without this page, that person is doomed to all eternity in the realms of souls." 

"Lost soul?" Xander asked. Something wasn't right. Where had he heard somebody talking about souls? "Lost souls....I-I know this."

Giles looked up at Xander, a bit confused. "Pardon?"

"Um...well, yeah. I remember now. The other night Buffy, Willow, and the Dawnster and I were walking home and Dawn said something about....."

"...wanting a soul," Giles finished, understanding completely. "But she has one...well, part of one. Doesn't she know that? Just because she's the key doesn't make her totally inhuman." 

"Well, I guess she'll find out when she goes all that long way for a soul and they turn her down. Well, what were the ingredients? What's required to make the spell work?"

Giles thought carefully. "Uh, it's just some fairly simple ingredients. Most of the ingredients are in the being itself. But the only one thing required is a guide. Somebody who's already been to....oh, dear."

"This is bad," Xander said. "This is really bad." He paced the balcony. "We have to call Buffy. We have to-"

"There's no time for that," Giles said. "We need to get to Spike's right away. They could already be in the other dimensions..."

***

As quietly as she could, Dawn crept downstairs into the furnished portion of Spike's hideout, being extra careful not to bump into anything. But no matter how quiet she tried to be, everything seemed louder than usual, daring to wake Spike up. She inched her way to the side of Spike's bed and opened up her book bag, cursing the use of a loud zipper. She pulled out the directions and looked at it, reading what she had to do. 

" 'Use the witches sand to encircle you and your guide going counterclockwise,' " she whispered. "Simple enough." She grabbed the witches sand out of her bag and opened the top. "Counterclockwise is...which way?" she asked herself. She thought of a clock. "Ok, clockwise is in the direction a clock goes, so counterclockwise would be the opposite." She mentally patted herself on the back. _I guess paying attention math class in the second grade really did help when it came to telling time_. 

" 'Next,' " she read. " 'Place the sacred stones in the center with you and your guide.' " She reached into her bag and pulled out the smooth marble stones. She placed them onto Spike's bed carefully. 

" 'Next, use...' "

"Mmmmmm," Spike moaned as he shifted in his sleep.

__

Oh, no, Dawn thought. _I'm screwed._ She waited a few seconds and held her breath. Unfortunately the witches sand was getting to her and she could feel her chest tightening up. _No, not now! You did all that icky camping for nothing if you sneeze now. You want your soul. You need your-_

"A-choo!" Dawn sneezed. 

There was a moments silence and she held her breath. This could not be happening....

He turned once again, facing Dawn this time. She expected him to open his eyes. "Bless you," Spike mumbled in his sleep. He continued on snoring. 

Dawn let out her breath in a big whoosh. She didn't manage to wake him up. Which was good. But she did manage to give him a pretty good showering.

She looked back down at the paper. " 'Now, pluck hair from you and your guide. Place it along with the stones in the center of the circle.' " Dawn reached up to her hair and pulled out a long strand. She put it in the center of the ring and took yet another deep breath. If sneezing and plucking hair out of Spike's head didn't wake him up, she didn't know what could. Steadily, Dawn reached over the blonde's body and gently grabbed a single piece of hair. She yanked as hard and as quick as she could and prayed for the best. She held her breath once again. Spike did twitch a little, but that was it. 

"Thank God," she whispered. She glanced at the paper. " 'Use the witches blood and smear the sign of the cross over you and your guides forehead, your lips, and your heart.' " Quickly, and shakily, she grabbed the rag and took it out of the plastic bag. It was mostly dried out, but she managed to smear some on her as the directions told her. She did the same to Spike., then continued on reading. Her heart was racing. She was almost done. Just a few more steps. " 'Breathe into the sacred rocks and say the incantation four times.' " Dawn bent down and puffed her breath into the rocks. She looked at the paper and began to do the last step. 

" 'Taker of souls, hear my plea; give up the soul that belongs to me. I come to you in peace, I'll do whatever it takes; to become a flesh human, no matter the stakes. God will protect me, and so will my guide; so I can have what belongs inside.' " Dawn glanced up from the paper and looked at the rocks. They began to glow eerily. Her eyes widened in amazement. She repeated the incantation two more times, then hesitated before she said it the last time. " 'Taker of souls, hear my plea; give up the soul that belongs to me.' " Spike shifted in his sleep. His body began to feel hot all of a sudden. "Fire," he murmured in distress. "Fire."

Dawn kept on continuing. " 'I come to you in peace, I'll do whatever it takes; to become a flesh human, no matter the stakes.' "

"It's burning!" Spike started yelling. He began to struggle in his sleep. 

Not knowing what to do, Dawn stopped and doubted herself. _I can't be doing this. I don't know what I'm messing with!_ She looked down at her shaking hands. _No. I must continue. _

" 'God will protect me, and so will my guide, so I can-.' " 

All of a sudden, there was a loud crash from upstairs. 

"What the-?" Spike yelled, suddenly waking up. He sat up in his bed and gave Dawn a confused glare. "What the hell are you doing?!" he raged at Dawn. 

"I'm coming for my key!" Glory's voice sing-sang. 

Dawn could hear the tapping of her large heels as she climbed down the ladder. Then there she was. Glory in her all her godlike self. She took a step towards Dawn, but then she fell to the ground as a body jumped down the ladder, crashing into the deadly goddess. It was Xander.

"Wha-?" Glory said. She stood up angrily and punched him, sending him flying into the stone wall, knocking him out cold. Giles then made an attempt at fighting, but it was no use. He was far too weak against her powers. But he had a trick up his sleeve. And it wasn't a never ending link of handkerchiefs either. "You may be faster than us three, but I make you move sluggishly." All of a sudden, Glory stopped in her tracks. Only for a split second though. She broke free from the spell and hit Giles in the face, sending him flying next to Xander. Glory took a deep breath and walked towards the frightened girl. She gave out a cackle. "Face it, little girl. There's not where you can go. No where you can hide. Just face it. You lost. And there's nobody here who can save you."

"Wanna bet?" Spike challenged. He started to stand up, but before he could leave the circle, Dawn completed the chant. " 'So I can have what belongs inside!' " Dawn finally finished.

Dawn closed her eyes and waited for something to happen. Anything. Sparks, thunder, lightning. But when she opened them, she was still in the same room with Spike and Glory. 

"Ha!" Glory spat out. "Your little spell didn't work. Now you will die!"

"What were you trying to do?" Spike asked Dawn. He stood up next to the girl and shook her shoulders. "What were you-agh!"

Suddenly, a tear in the dimensions emanated from inside the circle. The two were sucked through it into some sort of facet where time was nonexistent. Colors existed beyond their wildest imaginations and there was all sorts of evil lurking here. Around every corner, around every thought, around every crevasse. 

The hell dimension. 

Hey, this is the first part of my fic. The second part will be coming up very shortly. I just have to upload it on my computer. Hope you liked this part and the parts to come! The second part will be much longer. 


	2. Part Two

Buffy The Vampire Slayer. Part Two

Untitled. 

As promised, here's the second installment of my fic. Hope you enjoy. 

"Oh, no," Spike said. He looked around him and total fear overcame him. "You-you dragged me into this?!" he yelled. "What gives you the right? I never asked to come back." He grew dizzy as they raced through the tunnels faster and faster. 

Dawn gasped as they flew faster than the speed of darkness which was faster than the speed of light. "I-I'm sorry, Spike. You don't understand how much I need my soul." Dawn felt the tears welling up. She felt dirty in a place like this. This place of such evil. She never should have come here. 

They continued through winding tunnels through various dimensions until finally they were spit out of the tunnels and landed on some kind of stony desert town that was adorned with dead bodies everywhere. They were in one of the Hell dimensions. Dawn winced and closed her eyes, but she could not escape it. Death was everywhere. She crawled away from Spike, her back turned from him and hurled behind a burnt down building. 

When she was done, Spike stood up and brushed himself off and began walking. 

"Where-where are you going?" Dawn asked, wiping her mouth. She followed behind him, but found it hard to keep up with his tall strides. 

"Away from here," Spike answered. "You have no right to mess with me like this. Do you know how many nightmares I had about this place? How many mornings I woke up in a cold sweat because of the torture and pain? I barely got my soul back last time. The pain was horrible. I was just about to give in and then they gave it to me. They blessed and cursed me with it." Spike continued to walk, but then turned to face her. "I don't even know why you want this thing," he said, pounding his chest. "You're alive. You're a human. You have people who love you."

Dawn paused. "I'm not human, Spike. I don't have people who love me." Dawn took a step to him as he turned his back. "You got your soul because you wanted Buffy to love you and accept you. So you could bring her no more pain. Well, that's what I'm doing to. Buffy doesn't love me. She just protects me so the world doesn't end. She acts like she does. If I get my soul, she can really love me like the sister I'm supposed to be. Not as the key. Something to be burdened with. And-and I can't do this alone." Dawn paused, expecting him to say something. He continued walking down one path, away from all the terrified screams, away from all the death, and most of all, away from her. He stopped in his tracks and turned around. "You think Buffy doesn't love you?" he yelled to her, the dry air carrying his voice to her. "If she didn't she would have killed you already. Would have saved her a hell of a lot of trouble, don't you think?" He turned back around and continued walking. 

For the first time, Dawn began to feel alone and pretty stupid. She began to walk in the other direction. Towards the screams and horrified cries. She assumed the soul retrieving would be done that way, since there were no road signs or anything. Dawn walked miserably through the long deserted town. She got to thinking, and began to chuckle to herself. She was thinking of all the memories of her and Buffy and her mom. It was such a sacred thing, a memory. But in her case it wasn't really a memory at all. It was more like a fantasy. Dawn's chuckle began to turn into sobs. "What am I doing here?" she wept. "I don't even where to start." She sank down to her knees and bent over, unable to control her sobs. 

Then out of nowhere, she felt somebody grab her a bit roughly. "Spike?" she asked. She looked up, tears in her eyes, but then suddenly realized it wasn't Spike. It was some type of horned demon. 

"Intruder!" 

"Agghhhhhhhhhh!" Dawn screamed. She kicked out her legs and landed one in his groin, buying her a few seconds. "Spike! Help me!"

It took a few seconds, but Dawn's cries echoed through the desert, reaching Spike's heightened sensed. He stopped walking and turned back. "Bloody hell," he cursed. "What in God's name am I doing? I should have never left her alone." Spike broke out into a sprint. He could spot her from a distance in the arms of a demon. 

"Take that!" he yelled as he hit the demon over the head with his fist. It really didn't do any damage though, but the demon did release Dawn. She scurried away from the two and hid in a safe spot. Spike landed a few good hits on the demon, but he took twice as many to his face. He stumbled back until he fell on his bottom. 

Dawn reached into her coat pocket and pulled out a stake. "Spike!" she yelled. 

He looked over at her just as she threw the stake, sending it through the air. He caught it with ease and stabbed the demon in the heart. 

The demon gave one last yelp and burst into ashes. 

Spike brushed himself off and jogged towards Dawn. 

"You alright there, little bugger?" he asked. He held out his hand and she grasped it, being pulled to her feet. 

She nodded. "I think so. I just have a bump on my head, though." She ran her fingers through her hair and pressed the tender spot. "I'll live."

Spike looked around. "Not if we stay here, we won't. We have to stay on the move." He grabbed Dawn's hand and pulled her in the direction away from the screams.

"But my soul-" Dawn protested. "I want it. I need it." 

Spike ignored her objection and continued dragging her. "Sorry, kid. Soul's are not on the menu for today. We need to get out of here as soon as possible or we'll be on the menu. Do you have the return spell?"

Dawn slowed down. "Huh?"

"The return spell," Spike said. "Please tell me you have it."

Dawn reached into her pocket and pulled out the paper. She scanned it for the reversion. She couldn't find it anywhere. "Uh...can I get back to you on that?"

"Oh, great," Spike muttered. "Just great. Now we're stuck here with no way to get back." He began to pace. "Some witch you are. The first rule of spells is to make sure there's a way to reverse it. Everyone knows that!"

Dawn closed her eyes, feeling the panic begin to rise in her chest. "I'm sorry, Spike. I didn't know."

"Well now you do."

"That's not helping, Spike," Dawn said. She hated it when people always rubbed her mistakes in her face. 

Spike didn't say anything. Instead, he walked over to a building. He looked inside of it to see if there was anybody living inside. It was empty, like he thought. He turned back to Dawn. "We'll camp here for now. We need to get some rest. This is going to be hell..." Spike looked around at the hellish surroundings. "Obviously."

Dawn followed him inside the house. It had looked like people actually lived here. 

Spike seemed to read her mind. "Demons used to live here. But they all deserted this place after the torture chamber was relocated in that direction." He pointed to where the screams were coming from. "All the demons living here complained about the noise, so they moved."

Dawn nodded. 

"I'll be on the lookout, pigeon. You can go on in and rest." He motioned to the dirty bed in the middle of the room. He disappeared into another room. Not knowing what else to do, Dawn walked over to the bed and laid down, despite how disgusted she felt. It was better than nothing. She turned and felt something slimy on her face. She touched her face in horror and looked at it. Green goo covered her. "Ew!" she squealed. "Actually, 'nothing' is seeming a little more pleasant," she said. She wiped the goo on her jeans and walked over to where Spike was sitting near the doorway in the other room. He sat on the floor, looking down the deserted streets. She approached him and he jumped up, ready to stake her. 

He stopped in mid-air. "Sorry," he muttered and lowered the stake. "I just get a little bit jumpy down here. For obvious reasons, you know." 

Dawn disregarded what he said. "I'm scared," she admitted. 

Spike sat back down in his spot. "I am too. More than you'll know."

Dawn sat down next to him and looked at him shyly. "Can I sleep out here with you?" she asked. 

Spike looked at her weirdly for a second. "What's wrong with the bed?" 

"Covered in demon blood, I guess," she said. "Besides, I don't want to be alone. This place makes me feel like we're being watched from every angle."

Spike looked outside. He felt it too, but he didn't say anything about it to her. He didn't want to scare her more than she already was. "Well, I guess the more Summers' girls, the better," he said, giving her permission to stay with him. 

"You got that right," Dawn said. She laid down on the hard ground next to him and cradled her head in her arms. "Wake me up if you're feeling sleepy, Spike," she said. "I can take over watch."

Spike looked down at the girl who was already asleep. "I doubt I'll be sleeping at all."

***

"What just happened!" Glory demanded. She spun around and grabbed Giles from the ground. "I bet you had something to do with this!" she exclaimed. She held his neck tightly, cutting off his air. "Where did they go?" she yelled. 

When Giles didn't say anything, she threw him to the floor and grabbed Xander. "What about you, construction boy? Do you know where they went?"

She didn't have any luck with Xander. He was knocked out cold. Instead, she threw him aside in a furious rage and stormed up the ladder and out of Spike's lair. "Ugh!" She grabbed large fistfuls of her hair and began to pull and pull until she tore it out from the roots. "Not now, Ben!" she yelled. "I need to find the key!" 

Still, Ben pushed through her body and found his way out to the world. He looked and groaned. He was dressed in a red skimpy dress with heels that were killing his feet. He walked back down inside the hideout and grabbed some of Spike's clothes. He knew Spike wouldn't mind since he and Dawn would probably never going to come back alive from where they were. 

***

"Ok," Anya said to herself. She paced the Magic Box in a panic. "Xander told me to call Buffy if he and Giles didn't make it back in half an hour." She glanced at her watch. "How long has it been? I'm still not used to this time stuff..." She looked at the digital clock on the front counter. "Ok, it said 9:15 when they left, so I call Buffy at....11:00?" She thought for a second. "Oh, hell with it. I'm calling Buffy now." Anya reached for the phone and dialed Buffy's number. 

"Hello?" a sleepy voice asked on the other line. 

"Buffy, it's me, Anya. You know, Xanders girlfriend?"

"Yeah I figured," Buffy replied. "Is everything ok?"

Anya hesitated. "Well, I don't know. Xander and Giles left at 9:15 and told me to call you if they didn't get back in half an hour. I'm not used to human time yet, so should I call you now?"

Buffy glanced at her clock. It read 10:30. "Yes, you did the right thing, Anya. Where did Giles and Xander go?"

Anya took a deep breath. "Well, they think they know where Dawn's at. She wants to get her soul, just like Spike. So she's going to travel through an alternate dimension with Spike as her guide to get it. The only thing is, if she does travel through the dimensions, which she most likely will, she doesn't have the return incantation. She left that page in the book. And since they don't have the incantation spell, they'll be stuck there if they don't find her soul to finish the quest before 24 hours pass or if a portal isn't opened in the next 24 hours."

Buffy stayed quiet on the line. Even after Anya stopped talking. "You still there?" she asked. 

"I'll be right over."

***

"Giles? Hey, bud. You ok?"

Giles opened his eyes and groaned. Every bone in his body ached and then some. He couldn't tell where the pain ended and where the pain began. "What-what happened?" 

"Glory happened," Xander replied. "But luckily, she didn't get Dawn. They traveled through that dimension thing you were talking about."

Giles fumbled around for his glasses. 

"What are you looking for?" Xander asked.

"Well, I seem to have misplaced my glasses while I was hurtling through the air." Giles took a deep breath and stood up. He had difficulty in doing so. 

Xander stood up and started pacing. "What are we going to-" He stopped short when he heard a small crunch underneath his shoe. "Uh, Giles? I think I found your glasses." He lifted his foot and peered down. Sure enough, there was broken glass under his shoe. 

"Well, I guess it's not that bad a tragedy," Giles said. He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a similar pair of glasses. "I always keep a spare pair." 

"Geez, do you have a hundred pair of those or something?" Xander asked. He walked to the circle Dawn and Spike transported through. He was only a few inches away when Giles yelled out.

"Don't!" 

Xander stopped suddenly.

"There still may be some excess energy in that circle and there is a possibility that you can be transported into their dimension."

Xander slowly backed away. "Thanks for telling me right when I was two inches away from it, because if I did get transported through this hell hole, that would really suck for me." He paused and thought about what he just said. "Hey, wait....wouldn't this be a good thing? If this baby really does have some energy to burn, we can send Buffy through, she can give them the reverse spell to perform, and Dawn, Buffy, and bleach boy will get back home safely," he declared. 

Giles thought about it. "That's a real good idea, Xander, but there are so many other dimensions that are out there. If Buffy slips into a wrong one, there's no telling how long it would take to get her back." 

Xander snapped his fingers. "Darn. That was my really good idea of the day." He paced the floor, then stopped. A big grin came over his face. "Wait, wait. Xander's the man today. I just got another idea. How about we let Willow cast the reverse spell from here. Do you think that can work?"

Giles thought for a second. "Well, it's a good idea, Xander, but I don't think Willow's ready for such a task. She's still getting used to her newly improved powers. Something could go wrong."

"Oh, come on!" Xander said. "You're killing me here. Two ideas turned down in one day. Can't you give a guy a break?"

There was a slight silence. "They really were good ideas," Giles said. "Just too risky."

Xander didn't say anything. He just held his head down. Then he lifted it up. "You really think so?"

"I promise," Giles said. He patted him on the back reassuringly. 

"You're right," Xander said, giving him a goofy grin. "They were good. And I was on a roll, too. I don't think I had two really good ideas in one day. See, I think the trick is to-"

"Xander?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't get such a big head."

Xander's face fell. "Right....well, anyways, let's hear your ideas, Mr. High and mighty Brit. Let's see what those gears in your head are concocting."

Giles didn't say anything. "You know what, Xander? I think we'll use your idea."

"Really?" he piped. "Which one?" 

"The one with using Willow. Except instead of using her, we're going to use me."

***

"Dawn......Dawn!" 

'Huh? What's that voice Where am I?' the young girl thought. She opened her eyes, finally waking from her endless sleep. She stood up and looked around, quickly remembering. "I'm in this time dimension thing," she said out loud, remembering and winced. Her voice hurt her own ears. The screams from earlier had stopped and a spine-chilling silence blanketed the town. All except for that voice.... 

"Dawn!" the faint voice cried out once again.

"Who's there? Spike?" Dawn did a 360 and didn't see him anywhere. "Spike, where are you?" She looked through the abandoned house. He wasn't anywhere to be found. "Stop playing games!" she cried out. "Where are you?"

Before she knew it, Dawn had broken out into a run. She ran out of the house and onto the deserted streets. "Spike!!!!!" she yelled. She didn't care who heard her, demon or not. She ran until she was completely out of breath and her knees buckled, sending her crashing to the hard cold ground. She took a few minutes to catch her breath. When she had the strength to stand up once again, she did so, but as she looked around, she sensed something strange. A presence with her. "Spike, are you there?" She walked to a nearby building. Something was pushing her in that direction. She heard a creak as she entered the run down building. Pillars of broken wood hung loosely from the ceilings and walls. She tiptoed cautiously into the building. She didn't want another demon sneaking up on her. 

As she walked deeper into the house, a God awful smell began to emerge. She wrinkled up her nose and couched. "Ugh!" she complained, covering her mouth with her sleeve, breathing in the familiar fabric. Still, she couldn't get away from it. The smell was everywhere. "I-I need to get out of here," Dawn muttered, feeling sick. She walked forward, trying to find the quickest way out of the dark stench hole .In doing so, she tripped over something and fell face forward to the ground with a loud thud. 

"Ow," she groaned. She smell was worse than ever. Dawn lifted her body from the ground, but then stopped short. What was this under her? It was way too dark to see. Still, it felt familiar. Kind of solid, but soft and tender in some parts. Dawn traced her hand along under her. She felt something hairy...She blinked a few times, trying to let her eyes adjust to the darkness faster. What she would give to have great sight like Buffy. Dawn continued to trace her hand along underneath her. Finally her eyes did adjust to the light. And she almost wish they didn't. She could see a reflective bleach white color floating underneath her. Panic rose up in Dawn's throat as she finally realized. "Spike?" She asked. She stood up quickly and took a few steps backwards. She bumped into something behind her on the ground and spun around. It was a small lamp. She fumbled for the switch and prayed it would work. She flipped the light on and looked down at Spike.....and screamed. It was Spike alright, but his body was slashed from head to toe, a large gaping hole running from his ribcage to his pelvis. "You can't be dead!" Dawn said. She turned away put her hand over her mouth to prevent vomiting. She stood there for a moment in silence, trying to figure out what she was going to do now. 

"You're right," a British accent suddenly croaked. "Can't kill a vampire unless you stab him in the heart or cut off his head."

Dawn turned back to Spike. He rose to his feet and cracked his neck, fully transformed as a vampire. He took a step towards her. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked. When she didn't say anything, he answered his own question. "I am." With that, he lunged at her, tackling her to the floor.

"No! The chip! What about the chip?" Dawn cried out. She struggled to lift Spike off of her, but he outweighed her by more than half her own weight easy. He effortlessly kept her pinned and sneered as he watched her struggle. He loved it when they did that. It made their blood pump faster. "The chip?" Spike repeated. "Nothing down here matters. That chip can't hold me back from my deepest desires and instincts. That's only the way it is up on earth. So many rules."

"Get off of me!" she cried out. She threw a couple of punches, but wasn't surprised that it didn't effect him. She was a flea compared to his strength. 

"Want me to show you the different ways to suck the blood out of a defenseless little girl?" he growled. He pushed Dawn's long hair aside to reveal a strong vein. "There's about a hundred and one ways." He lowered his face slowly and Dawn reached for the large lamp that rested a few feet away from her. She groaned as she stretched to reach it. She was just about a hands length away...

It was too late though. Spike had already sunk his teeth deep into her neck. Dawn squeezed her eyes shut and cried out weakly. She could feel the life being drained from her. 

Spike forced himself to stop and raised his body off of her a little and took a deep breath. It had been so long since he ate an innocent. She tasted so perfect. "Now," he said. "Should I turn you, or should I finish you off?" 

With half of his weight off of her, Dawn could move her upper body freely. She reached for the lamp and grabbed the heavy antique, surprised at the heaviness of it. She brought it up over her head and smashed it down onto his skull, not giving him a chance to protest. 

"Agh!" Spike rolled off Dawn and grabbed his head. It clearly hurt him, but it wasn't going to kill him. Using the little precious time she had bought, Dawn stumbled to her feet, clutching her neck and ran out of the house and into the streets. She looked in both directions, trying to figure out which way to run. 

"Come back here!" Spike yelled, stumbling after her. 

Without thinking, Dawn ran to the right where the city ended. There had to be something beyond the small town. Despite her blood loss, the dizziness, and the wobbling in her knees, she ran and ran and ran until she thought she couldn't run anymore. Just when she would pause for a second, she would start once again with even more willpower and strength. And she could have kept running...if only the ground didn't suddenly end. "Whoa!" Dawn gasped, leaning backwards to keep from falling forward. She succeeded and fell backwards to the ground and scurried away from the edge. "Wha-?" she questioned. Something was not right. She stood up and walked slowly to the edge once again and peered down. There was nothing below her. No land, nothing at all. Just darkness that seemed to never end. Dawn turned back to see Spike closing the distance between the two. And he looked hungry. 

Dawn felt sick in her stomach and sank to the ground. There was nothing she could do; nowhere to go. She lost. She might as well throw herself off the edge into oblivion. 

"Gotcha," Spike snarled. He grabbed Dawn and lifted her limp body from the ground. "I decided what I'm going to do with you," he said. He then bit into her neck in the same place he had done before. He sucked her blood in a frenzy. 

Dawn groaned faintly and saw spots forming in front of her face. This was it. This was the end....

Suddenly, Spike released Dawn and threw her to the ground where she lay staring up at him, barely blinking. She was too weak to even breathe. "Why?" she asked weakly, the light around her starting to dim. "Why did you do this to me?"

Spike chuckled. "To prove to you that you are nothing." 

Dawn's eyes furrowed in confusion. Maybe the blood loss thing was getting to her, but she could have swore that she heard her mother's voice. 

"You are nothing without your soul."

Dawn gasped. She wasn't hallucinating. Spike's mouth was moving, but it was her mom's voice coming out of his bloody mouth. 

"Mommy?" Dawn asked. 

Spike sneered and suddenly transformed. His short blonde hair grew to the length of his shoulders, curls bouncing with every movement and the sandy brown color gleaming in the light. His features changed too. His sturdy nose slimmed down until it was small and pointy with just a hint of a ski lift on the tip. His face thinned down until it was that of a woman. She glowed angelically and wore a long white flowing gown.

"Mom?" Dawn exclaimed. She was filled with wonderment and fear. "Is it you?"

"Yes," Joyce Summers said softly. "It is me." She took a step toward her daughter. "I've missed you so much."

Dawn felt a sob form in the back of her throat. She struggled to hold it down. "I've missed you too. Everything's so different without you with us anymore." She ran to her dead mothers arms, holding her tightly. "We need you back home."

Joyce smoothed down her daughters hair. "Everything'll be ok now. Everything will be...." She stopped talking and looked down at Dawn. "Wait a second," she muttered. "You-you're not my daughter."

"Huh?" Dawn asked. She raised her head to peer into her mother's face. "Of course I am. It's me, Dawn." 

"No. You have no soul, therefore you are not my daughter." Joyce pushed Dawn back roughly, causing her to stumble backwards until she was just against the edge of the dimension. She had nowhere to go. "You are NOTHING!" she bellowed like a crack of earth shattering thunder. "You are nothing without a soul!" The wind began to pick up and Joyce's white cloak turned black and whipped in the wind behind her. Her hair changed to a deep black and her eyes transformed from the soft eyes Dawn always knew to endless evil, the black coloring her whole eye, generating the look of some kind of alien. "And for this, you shall die!" 

Joyce reached into her black flowing cloak and pulled out five daggers. She gripped the sharp ends of all the knives in one hand and threw them at her all at once. 

Dawn didn't know what else to do. The only thing she could do was scream as the daggers hurtled towards her at lightning speed.....

***

"Aghhhhhhhh!" Dawn's screams rose from her parched throat. She opened her eyes and saw Spike standing over her. His arms were outstretched with his trench coat clutched in his fingers as if he was going to grab her. "Get away from me!" Dawn screamed. She stood up and pushed Spike backwards, making him crash against the wall. Dawn sprinted out of the house and out into the desert. 

Spike chased after her. He caught up easily and grabbed her shoulders, shaking some sense into her head. "What in the name of bloody hell is it?!" he yelled. 

"You-you're...going to..." Dawn started. She looked at Spike. There were no slashes covering his body, no gaping holes in his torso. Just regular ol' Spike. Well, what she considered regular, anyways. Dawn stared up and Spike and struggled to breathe. It was this place. This place is haunting her. "You tried to kill me!" Dawn finally said, finding her voice once again. "You-"

"What? Since when does doing somebody a favor suddenly mean they're suddenly on a murder list?" Spike lifted his trench coat as if to prove himself. "I was going to cover you up. Not suffocate you. Geez." He wasn't really all that angry with the girl. He was just freaked more than anything. First she looked all peaceful sleeping, then all of a sudden, she waked up screaming right in his ear and throwing him half way across the room. And he thought Buffy was emotionally unstable....His face grew worried as Dawn began to cry. "My mom," she choked out. "Mom."

It couldn't have been a dream. It couldn't have. It was so real to her. She never had a dream like that before. So genuinely real. She could smell everything, taste everything, feel everything. All the pain. 

Not knowing what else to do, Dawn took a step towards Spike hugged him tightly. "I'm so scared," Dawn said. "It's this place. It's-it's making me...." There was no other word for it. The one true word she was looking for was 'crazy.'

Spike stood still for a second. He knew exactly what she was talking about. "I know, little bit. I know." 

***

"Are you crazy?" Xander asked. "We can't use you to get Dawn and Spike back."

Giles placed his glasses back in their usual place after cleaning them for the hundredth time that day. "And why not?" Giles asked, growing irritated and exasperated. 

Xander stood there, speechless. He could name a hundred reasons why, but he only needed one. "Uh, duh! You're not a witch! Or, as Willow would correct me, a warlock."

Giles sighed. "I know that. But I have done quite a bit of magic in my day. I'm just a little....rusty I suppose."

Xander whistled. "More like old." He continued before Giles had a chance to protest. "Look, I'm just saying that we need an experienced witch like Willow to take care of this."

"And I'm saying we don't need her. It doesn't take a witch to perform a spell. Anybody could do one." 

"Yeah, and that's where things usually go wrong. Anybody can perform a spell, but it takes an experienced witch to perform it properly." Xander thought about what he just said. He actually made sense. "Score one for the Xand-man."

Giles ignored him. "The return spell is quite simple. And if we don't get them back soon, they'll be stuck there forever." He took the return incantation out of his jacket pocket and studied it. It said there were two ways to get them back. Travel in physical form through the dimensions to find them, or travel through their subconscious while they were sleeping. He told Xander the options and asked his opinion about it. 

He thought for a moment, "Well, the traveling through the subconscious seems pretty easy and safe. I give you the go on that one."

Giles nodded slightly. "Yes, but the only way to travel into their subconscious is to wait until they're sleeping. How will we ever know when they're asleep?" 

"Yep, that's definitely a problem," Xander said. He thought and thought and thought. He came up with nothing. "Hey, two ideas are enough for me today. I'm all thought out."

Giles was idea-less too. "Do you think we should call Buffy and ask her?" he asked.

"No need to," a voice called out. Footsteps came down the ladder and Buffy stood there, clad in her pajamas. "I got here as soon as I could."

"Yeah, we kind of figured," Xander said, motioning to her pj's. "Not everybody decides to walk around the streets in an over sized puppy dog shirt and baggy plaid pants. Topped off with the fuzzy pink bunny slippers."

Buffy looked down at herself. She didn't have time to worry about her clothes. "I just didn't want to waste any time getting ready."

"Hey there, Scooby Gang!" Willow called, climbing down the ladder with Tara following steadily above her. 

Xander walked over to Tara to help her down the rest of the ladder. He picked her up and placed her down next to Willow. 

"Thanks," Willow said. She held onto Tara tightly. 

"Don't forget about me!" Anya called. She climbed down the ladder and walked to Xander's side, staring at Buffy's feet. "I tried to tell her to change her slippers, but she wouldn't listen. Doesn't she know how afraid of bunny's I am?"

"Why didn't you call earlier?" Willow asked Giles. She was pretty pissed.

"There was no time," Giles said. "We had to hurry here as soon as possible. But we were too late."

"Spike and Dawn are trapped in one of the hell dimensions," Xander explained. "We need to reach them soon."

"No kidding," Buffy said a little too harshly. She strode to the enchanted circle of sand. "Is this how you get there?" she asked. 

"Yes," Giles started. "But....."

Buffy didn't need to hear anything else. She strode back over to Giles, tore the spell out of his hands and ran through the circle. She expected to be dragged through some kind of tunnels or sent through some kind of channel through the dimensions, but instead she just ran into the wall. "Ugh!" she grunted as she hit it hard. Feeling a bit dazed, she stood slowly up, confused. "Giles...." She stood in the middle of the sand circle. "Why isn't anything happening? Is there some kind of button I need to press or...?" 

"No," he said. He rubbed his forehead to ease the migraine that started to form. "Unfortunately the tear through the dimensions has sealed off. The only way to travel through the dimensions is to re-do the spell."

"Alright then," Buffy said. "Let's get crackin'. What do we have to do?"

Giles hesitated for a second. He hated to be the bearer of bad news. "That's the problem. Dawn has the spell in her possession. We don't know the exact ingredients and even if we did, it would be quite impossible to perform. I know that one of the necessities in traveling through the other dimensions is to have a guide who has been there before travel with you. And in this case, that's Spike. There are no others that we know of who have traveled to get their soul."

Buffy's face fell. "But...how do we get them back?"

"Ooh!" Willow interrupted. "I know a spell. I can open a portal to wherever they're located. Then boom. They just jump through and they're home. And it's not the same as the return spell. It's a lot more simple because it doesn't require the same ingredients." She felt a sense of pride. She liked being an essential need for the gang. Most of the time she felt useless because she wasn't a good fighter the way Buffy was and she wasn't the extremely powerful witch she thought she should be to help out. But now felt like a good time. Her face fell. "Uh-oh," she said. 

" 'Uh-oh?' What 'uh-oh?' " Anya asked. "In past experiences, 'uh-oh' isn't a good word to hear at a moment like this. Do you care to tell us what you're 'uh-ohing' about?"

"African bats demon brains," she said. "It's one of the ingredients for the spell. But unfortunately the African bat demon can only be found in-"

"Let me guess," Xander interrupted. "...Africa?"

Willow nodded. "Yep. And we only have 24 hours. The bat demon is very endangered. There have been an overkill of their kind because of the slayers."

Everyone looked at Buffy.

"Don't blame me," Buffy retorted. "I haven't been to Africa ever. And besides, how were the other slayers supposed to know that they're an essential ingredient to getting back my sister?"

"It's going to take a few hours at the least," Willow continued. "And I can't guarantee that we'll even find the African bat demon."

"It's worth a try," Buffy said. "Can you transport us now?"

"Gimme a second," Willow answered. She handed Tara over to Xander. "Can you watch her for me?" she asked pleadingly. Xander nodded and wrapped his arm around her. "I'm going to leave for just a little bit," Willow said slowly to Tara. "But I'll be back soon, ok?" 

"Willow," Tara mumbled. She looked into her eyes, feeling alone and afraid. "Stay."

"I'll be back," Willow promised. She gave Tara a kiss on the lips before walking next to Buffy. "Trave-"

"Wait, wait, wait," Giles said, interrupting her in the middle of her spell. "You're just leaving like that? You don't know what you're getting yourselves into. You don't even know the dangers of....." 

Everyone gave him angry looks. He was way too concerned with everyone's safety that he didn't realize he was wasting time. "....the dangers of leaping into battle without equipping yourselves properly." Giles finished. 

"You're right," Buffy said. "Gimme everything and anything we can carry with our two hands. I want to pack smart and light."

"I have a stake," Anya said. She pulled it out from her jacket and handed it to Buffy. She searched her other pockets. "Oh, and I have a pencil. Just in case you drop or forget your stake or something." She handed the thin piece of wood over to her. 

"Thanks," Buffy said slowly. "Anybody got anymore?" 

"Sorry," Xander said. "I left all my demon slaying pencils in my other jacket." 

"Ooh!" Anya said. She ran over to a corner of Spike's crypt and picked up a large battle axe. "How's this?"

Buffy took the weapon. "That's good." She swung the axe in the air a few times. "I think that's good enough. With me fighting and Willow's magic, we should get through this pretty quick."

"Let's hope so," Giles said. He looked pretty darned worried. Buffy caught his look and walked over to him. "Everything's going to be fine. I promise." She reached up and gave him a hug for reassurance. 

Giles nodded. "I hope so. Just make sure you find that thing quick and get back here. We don't need to waste any unnecessary time."

"Right," Buffy said. She walked over to Willow and held onto her arm. 

"No," Tara whimpered. She pulled out of Xanders grip and ran to Willow, clinging onto her. "Don't."

"Everything'll be just fine," Willow soothed. She returned Tara's hug and gently pushed her back to Xander. "Traveosa," Willow commanded. 

A second later, they were gone, leaving the others standing in silence.

"So," Xander spoke up. "What do we do now?"

Nobody replied. 

Nobody knew.

***

"Oh, great," Ben muttered as he heard his beeper go off. He climbed out of the shower and wrapped a towel around his waist. The impatient little gadget kept beeping, driving him insane. "I'm coming, you stupid thing," Ben yelled. He rushed over to his nightstand table and read what it said. 

'Hospital 911.'

Ben threw down the beeper and strode over to his phone. He dialed his work phone number and waited for somebody to answer. 

"Sunnydale Emergency," a monotonous voice said. 

"Hey, Paige? It's Ben. I just got a beep."

"Right," Paige replied. "We have a situation down here at the mental ward. All the patients are going nuts and we're packed tonight with more psych patients. We need you here right away."

Ben cursed to himself. "Alright. I'll get there as soon as I can." He hung up the phone and towel dried himself. "That damn Glory," he muttered. "Making my life a living hell." 

"I wouldn't curse the name of Glory if I were you," a shaky voice called out. 

Ben turned around. One of Glory's minions stood in the shadows. "And what's she going to do to me?" Ben asked, returning to drying himself. He walked into the bathroom and grabbed his work clothes. "She can't really kill me because if I die, then she doesn't exist anymore. Simple as that." He pulled on his clothes. "And believe me, I'm not dying any time soon. If anybody dies it's going to be her."

"How can you be so sure of that?" The imp asked, hobbling into the light. "Remember when Dawn saw you transform into Glory? She knows....she just doesn't realize it yet. So when she puts to and to together eventually, she will tell the slayer you are Glory's host and she will come after you."

Ben stopped to think. That was true enough. He just had to prevent it from happening. "I have a plan that'll take care of Dawn and Glory." He grabbed his keys when he finished dressing and walked past the goblin. 

"And what shall you do?" he asked, trying to get the information out of him. 

Ben turned around and gave him a look. "You're on a need to know basis, and you don't need to know. Besides, do you think I'm stupid enough to tell you? A 'devoted lifetime servant of the great Glorificus?" 

"We will find out," the imp called as Ben walked out of the apartment. He continued on talking. "We will."

***

Dawn and Spike walked across the lonely desert together. They passed many deserted demon cities, taking a small break as they reached each of them. They saw another one coming up just past the horizon and their footsteps seemed to quicken. 

Dawn glanced at her watch for the very first time. The hands were spinning out of control past the hours. "Uh, Spike," Dawn said. "Do you know what time it is? I think my watch is broken."

"No it's not," Spike replied. "Time doesn't exist here. There's no night. There's no day. There's just eternity." 

"Oh," Dawn replied quietly. Nothing like being stuck in a place with no time to bring somebody down. It was too hard to grasp: the concept of no time. "Well, how much time do you think past in the real world?"

"Don't know, pigeon," Spike said, growing a bit restless of her endless questions that he didn't have answers to. "Could have been weeks, months, even years."

"Months? Years?" Dawn exclaimed. "But....how could they forget about us?"

Spike didn't say anything to reply. 

"They wouldn't forget us, would they?" Dawn repeated. "Buffy wouldn't just let us-"

"Us?" Spike interrupted, a cruelty to his voice. "Not us, pigeon. You. I bet if Buffy had the chance she'd leave me stranded here in the blink of an eye." Spike began to walk a little bit faster. 

Dawn quickened her steps too. "No she wouldn't," was all she said quietly.

"Right," Spike said. "Let's just drop the conversation, ok? I'm getting a migraine."

Dawn nodded and slowed her steps until she was about ten paces behind Spike. She wasn't in any rush to get to the next city. She knew that there would be nothing just like in the cities before and they would have to keep on walking. He said it himself. Years could have passed. They were stuck here.

Spike pulled out his cigarettes and popped one in his mouth. He lit it up and took a drag from it. 

"Those things'll kill you, you know," Dawn informed. 

Spike took the cigarette out of his mouth and gave her a look. "Hello. I'm immortal," he said. 

"Right," Dawn muttered. "I'll be quiet now." 

After about what seemed like ten minutes later, they arrived the next city. Dawn wasn't surprised to see that it was deserted. Everything in this place was empty. 

Spike climbed onto a broken wooden porch and motioned for her to wait a second. He crept inside slowly and peered into the darkness. He couldn't see anything for the moment. He walked into the next room. 

"Hello," he said. "Any big bads in here?" He didn't see anything so far. "Guess not," he answered his question. He turned around to get Dawn from where he left her. 

"Ah!" Spike yelled and jumped back. Dawn stood right behind him. 

"Jumpy now, aren't we?" Dawn asked. 

Spike took a deep breath, trying to control his nerves. "What are you-I thought I told you to wait outside."

Dawn turned her back and observed the dump of the hour. "Why? There's nothing in this town anyways. Besides, you're not supposed to leave me alone. A demon could have kidnapped me."

"Yeah," Spike started. "But what if there's a demon in here? Then you wouldn't be safe here either." 

Dawn scoffed. "I doubt that," she muttered. "This place is deader than you." She looked up at Spike and gave him an apologetic look. "Sorry," she said. "No offense."

"None taken, luv. I understand that-" He was cut short by a pair of strong arms that grabbed him from behind. "What in the bloody hell?" he questioned. His only answer was him being thrown across what seemed to be the living room. 

"Spike!" Dawn cried out. The demon stood between her and her fallen friend. She was rooted to the spot. "Are you ok?" 

Spike groaned and stood up. "Right as rain, pumkin'," he said. "Go hide somewhere."

Dawn nodded and ducked behind the large couch, peeking from behind it as Spike charged the red horned demon. He threw a few punches that were blocked easily. Spike was then hit across the face and flew to the side, crashing into a coffee table. He groaned and struggled to open his eyes as spots materialized out of nowhere. He opened them just in time to see the demon walk up to him. Spike rolled to the side, dodging out of his reach. He stood up carefully and gave a chortle. "I'm just getting started," he challenged. His words weren't true though, and was proved when the demon grabbed Spike by his collar and heaved him against the wall, his head giving off a loud thud.

"Spike!!" Dawn yelled. She stood up from her hiding spot and rushed to his side. She lifted his head gently. "Wake up, Spike." 

He didn't respond. His head just lay limp in her arms. 

"It's your turn," the demon roared to Dawn. He rushed her with outstretched arms, but she managed to duck away at the last second, causing him to fall to the floor. She gave on last look at Spike and ran into the next room. There was nothing she could hide behind. "Uh," she said to herself, trying to decide which room to run into next. There could be a whole swarm of other demons hiding in the same house and there was really no time to look through each of the rooms. The demon was recovering from stumbling to the floor. She opted for the room to her left.

There were places to hide, but she just had to pick the right one. There was a coffin, a closet, another door in which she had no idea where it led, and the window. 

She heard the demon roar from the next room and she ran through the other door instinctively and prayed for the best.

"Oh no," she said. A sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach began to form. It was a bathroom. She closed the door and searched her options. There weren't many at all. The shower, the towel closet, and the cupboard beneath the kitchen sink. 

"Please let there be a window," Dawn begged. She pulled back the shower curtain and to her luck there was. However Lady Luck wasn't always good to Dawn. The window was far too small for her to fit through, despite her small stature.

The demon still hadn't walked in on her yet so it bought her some time to think. He must still be searching through the other room. She struggled to think, but then she realized something was very wrong....the other room was totally quiet. 

She pressed her hear against the door to listen. There was not one sound. No footsteps, no breathing. Nothing. 

She stood there in silence for a few minutes and decided that maybe he went to go check the other room. Her hand was just on the doorknob ready to turn it and then she heard it. It was the smallest creak on the old floor boards and it was right on the other side of the door. She gasped and in a swift movement ducked behind the door just as he opened it. She pressed her body against the wall as flat as she could and held her breath. She could hear his heavy breathing and the rumbling in his stomach for a good feed. 

"Come out come out wherever you are," the demon growled. He approached the shower and tore through the flimsy plastic. "Not there," he said. He looked at the cupboard. "You must be hiding underneath the sink," he figured. He slowly walked to the small space and threw open the doors. "Hmmm," he said. "Not there." The only other place was the towel closet. It was on the other side of the bathroom, a good distance away from the door. If he could just keep moving that way. "I guess she could be in the towel closet," the demon said. He walked slowly towards it and he was halfway there, but then stopped and turned around to face her. "But I already know that she's hiding behind the door." 

Dawn screamed and ran through the door to the other room. She didn't get far though. He grabbed her by the hair and she fell backwards and landed hitting her head. He stared down at her in pity. "Such a waste," he said. He lifted her up by his hold on her hair and threw her on her back onto the coffin. 

"Good-bye." He lowered his face to her neck and licked a trail across her vein. 

__

This can't be happening, Dawn thought as she squeezed her eyes shut. Her life, or what was known to be her life, began to flash before her eyes as he bit hard into her neck. Dawn whimpered weakly. This wasn't a dream. She knew that much. But it couldn't be happening. She felt so confused and dazed. Like she wasn't even there. Where was Spike when she needed him the most? 

The demon growled with ferocity as he held Dawn close and tight enough to cut off her oxygen. 

"Please stop," Dawn pleaded. "It hurts so bad." She jerked and cried out as he bit down even harder, fangs working their way deeper in her flesh.

"Don't worry sweetie," the demon said, taking a small breather. "The pain will end soon enough." He lowered his face and continued to eat her alive.

And all of a sudden, the pain did end. She opened her eyes and looked around. The demon was no longer there-he was now a pile of ashes. She sat up weakly, but fell back down. Everything started to turn into a blur. She grabbed her neck and held it with her hand, trying to stop the bleeding. 

Then Spike appeared with a stake in his hand. "Dawn," he said, a bit of panic in his voice. He lifted her in his arms with ease and brought her to the living room where the couch was more comfortable. He placed her down gently and removed her hand from her neck. 

Just as he thought, there were two punctured fang marks in her neck. "Oh, great," he muttered. He took off his coat and placed it over her shivering body. There wasn't enough blood in her to keep her warm. 

"It-it hurts," Dawn mumbled weakly. "I feel like I'm on fire."

"I know, luv."

Dawn opened her eyes slowly to look up at him. "Am I going to die?" she asked. She really didn't need to answer her. She saw it in his eyes. 

He didn't say anything. He rubbed his head, trying to think of a way to keep her from killing over. Then he had it. It was so simple, but it required a lot of sacrifice. He looked down at Dawn. He didn't know if she was willing to sacrifice so much, but it was the only way. 

"Dawn, can you hear me?" Spike asked. 

Dawn closed her eyes and nodded slowly. "Yeah."

"Ok, now listen carefully." He paused and reached into his pocket for a pocketknife he always carried with him. He took it and quickly drew the blade against his skin, causing a thin line of blood to surface. "I need you to drink this," he said. 

Dawn opened her eyes to see what he was talking about. She could see his wrist hovering above her face. "No," Dawn muttered. "I can't do it. I can't."

Spike grew frustrated. "Dawn, it's the only way for you to live." 

"No," Dawn protested. 

"Don't you want to see Buffy again? Tara? All your friends?"

Dawn didn't say anything else. She laid silent for a few minutes pondering her thoughts, then she opened her mouth slightly and Spike lowered his wrist to her lips. At first, his blood tasted bitter from having possessed hundreds and hundreds of innocent victims over the past hundred years. But then after a few seconds, it didn't taste so bad and she wanted more. She clamped her mouth around his wrist and sucked the delicious red blood relentlessly. Then a moment later she tore her mouth away from him. She had enough and something was beginning to happen to her body. Her body jerked as a transformation began to take place.

Her once flawless face changed dramatically, her brow sinking to just above the ridge of her nose. Her eyes changed to a yellow and her teeth sharpened until they were fangs. The transformation took too much energy out of her. She struggled to stay awake, but was knocked out due to shock after she ran her tongue across her sharp teeth. 

Spike caressed Dawns new vampire face. He felt terrible guilt in his heart. "I had to do it."

***

"Wow," Buffy commented. "That was a quick trip."

Willow smiled. "Your first teleportation?" she asked. 

"Yeah," Buffy said. "I'm kind of a virgin when it comes to teleportation."

Willow gave her a look.

"Oh, bad choice of words. Me? A virgin?" Buffy chuckled and didn't give Willow a chance to comment. "So, where do we start finding this African thingamajig?"

Willow looked around their surroundings. "Well, I really don't know. I can do a locater spell to speed things up."

"Yes," Buffy said. "Locate. Now. We need to hurry back."

Willow nodded and searched her mind for a spell. When she found it she chanted silently and her eyes opened. "There should be an African bat demon right here," Willow said. 

The two looked around. There wasn't a thing in sight. 

"Are you sure, Will?" Buffy asked. "I don't see anything." 

"I'm sure. He's just hiding. He knows that we're here."

"Hmmm," Buffy mumbled. She folded her arms and looked across the dark terrain. "So, what's this thing look like?" Buffy asked. 

"You'll know when you see it," Willow responded. "Kind of batty. Wings, can fly."

"Haven't had a flyer in a long time," Buffy commented. "Should be reminiscent in a way."

"You're right."

The two stood there in silence for a few minutes. Then few minutes began to turn into a lot of minutes. A lot as in ninety. They both sat down now in the normally hot environment. But since it was dark, the breezes gave both of them the chills. 

"Willow," Buffy asked for the hundredth time. "Are you sure this thing is here?"

"Yes!" Willow exclaimed. "It's here, but it's distracted by something else....."

"By what?" Buffy asked. "Because he's gonna get a whole 'nother distraction in a few seconds if he doesn't come out right now." Buffy stood up and paced the dirt. 

"Just be patient," Willow said. "He'll come." 

It wasn't long after she said that when they both saw a lion running across the cracked desert plain. Something was chasing the once brave king of the jungle. Whatever it was swooped down low and tackled the lion to the ground. 

"That the thing?" Buffy asked.   
"Yeah."

"Let's see just how brainy the African bat demon is," Buffy said. "Stay here." She ran towards the night creature which was about a hundred yards away. In the meantime, the African bat demon dug its sharp fangs into the lion, sucking it dry in just a few minutes. He then threw the carcass away from him, not needing the creature anymore. 

"Hey!" Buffy yelled. 

The demon looked up at her. This was a new kind of creature for him. He never seen anything so delicious looking in his whole life. 

The demon began talking in Swahili to Buffy who was taking cautious steps towards the thing. 

"Let me guess," Buffy said. "You're saying 'Look at that yummy treat.' But you really should be saying 'Oh no, the slayer. I've seen my last moon tonight.' Am I right?"

The demon didn't say anything for a second. Then he talked. "You are not from here," he growled. 

"Ah, so you do speak English," Buffy observed. "Do you understand 'but kicking?' "

"You do foolishly to taunt a creature of the night," the demon angered. "You do not know the dangers of here. The dangers I cause."

"I'll take you up on that bet," Buffy said. "Now, enough with the chit chat. I have a sister to save." She charged the creature and tackled it to the ground. The demon was surprised by her strength. He then began to realize that he may be in more danger than he originally thought. "You are stronger than I thought," the demon admitted. "At least for somebody who wears a puppy dog shirt."

"My shirt? What's wrong with it?" She didn't wait for him to answer her. "Bye bye," Buffy said. She pulled her stake from the pocket in her pajama pants and raised it. She brought it down on him, but with incredible strength he grabbed her wrist and stopped her from killing him. 

"Uh oh," Buffy said. She struggled to slip out of the demons grasp, but his one hand was big enough to crush her head. Still, she continued to struggle. Then the demon had the advantage all of a sudden. He rolled over so that he was on the top and he began to push the stake down on the slayer, only inches away from her heart.

"Entramora," Willow yelled across the desert plain.

"Huh?" the demon asked. He tried to move, but was frozen. "What is this?" he asked. "Some type of wizardry?" He struggled against the invisible hold. "Release me," he commanded. 

"Like that's going to happen," Buffy said. She slid from underneath him and he stayed in the same position, body floating in mid-air. 

"The axe," Buffy said. 

Willow tossed her the weapon and she caught it easily. 

"This is nothing personal," Buffy said as she raised the axe. "I just need to save my sisters life." She then brought it down over the top of the demons skull, slicing it open like butter. 

The demon raged in agony. "No!" he yelled. "What are you doing? Just kill me. Kill me now!"

Buffy reached into the demons cranium and yanked his brain out, holding it gingerly in one hand. "With pleasure," she replied. She then brought the axe on the demons neck, tearing it from his body. He immediately turned to ashes. 

Buffy strode over to Willow and handed her the brain. She put it inside a jar she conjured. "And you said this was going to be hard."

***

Giles, Anya, Tara and Xander all sat around Spike's crypt. They busied themselves with useless conversation, but ran out of this to talk after about two hours.

Xander yawned and stretched out his back a little. "Geez. When are they going to get back?" he asked. His talking woke Anya who was wrapped in his arms. 

"Hmm?" she asked. "Is Buffy back yet?"

"Nope," Xander said. 

"Just be patient," Giles said from his perch. He looked at Tara who rocked back and forth repeatedly. She seemed so lost without Willow by her side. 

"How can we?" Anya asked, her voice still sleepy. "It's been two hours. Are we supposed to wait here the whole day?"

"If that's what it takes, yes," Giles answered. 

"But I'm hungry," Anya pouted. "This is cruel and unusual punishment. We need to eat sometime."

Giles looked at his watch. It read 12:30. "It is lunch time," he agreed. 

Xander stood up and stretched. "I'll go pick something up. Anything you guys want?" he asked. 

Giles shook his head. "I'm not hungry much, but a coffee would be nice."

"Anya?"

She thought over what she wanted. "Well, a stack of pancakes would be nice. Four should be fine. And I want a side of sausage. Make sure they're patties, not links. Also, a plate of eggs sounds good, but you don't have to get me those. Forget I mentioned them. Oh, and get me some hash browns and toast, too."

Xander looked at Anya dumbfounded. "Uh, it's lunch time." 

"I know, silly. But that's what I want."

"Ok....anything else?"

Anya gave him a look. "Of course not. I don't want to get fat, you know."

"Right." Xander looked at Tara. "Uh, what should I get her?"

Giles thought for a moment. "Uh, just a burger should be just fine. Nothing too greasy."

"Alrighty then," Xander replied, trying to remember everything everyone wanted. "I'll be back in a while. Hopefully Buffy will be back by the time I do."

"Bye, sweetie," Anya said. She sat up as he leaned down and gave her a kiss. Their lips lingered there for a second, then their kiss began to deepen. 

"Oh, get a room," Giles muttered under his breath.

Xander lifted his head and laughed. "I'll be back in a while." He walked past Giles and stopped in front of him. "You want a smoochy too?" he asked. 

"Ugh. No thanks. I think I'll do an amnesia spell instead."

Xander gave Tara a pat on her shoulder as he left. She looked so depressed. "I'll be right back," he reassured. 

She gave a slight nod and watched as he walked up the ladder. 

Anya caught this look. "Don't get any idea, sister. He's mine."

Xander walked out of the crypt and into the sunlight. It felt good to get some fresh air. They had been cooped up in that room all day and he was getting pretty tired of watching Giles clean his glasses for the two hundredth time that morning. 

He walked down the crowded streets and negotiated where he should get their food. He definitely couldn't make all that food. He didn't even know how to make chocolate milk. Then he saw it. The one place where you can eat breakfast any time of the day: Perkins. "My savior," he said as he crossed the empty street. He ran up to the door and opened it. Somebody was walking out and bumped him in the shoulder. 

"Hey, watch-" he started. Then he looked up at who it was. "Oh, Ben," he said. "I didn't know that was you. I thought I'd have to teach somebody a lesson or two." He punched his hand to get the point across, but did it a little too hard. He shook the pain out of his hand.

"Hey, Xander," Ben said. He had a cup of coffee in his hands. "What's going on?"

"Nothing much. Just getting some food for me and my friends. Long day."

"Tell me about it. I can't seem to get any time to myself these days. The hospitals been pretty-" Ben stopped short as he felt his stomach churn a little bit. _Not now. _"Uh, I have to go, Xander," he said. "I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Oh," Xander said. "Well, I guess I'll-" Ben had already started walking to his car and Xander furrowed his eyebrows together. He kept on looking as Ben got into his car, but he didn't drive right away. He sat in his car shaking his head back and forth. "Oh well." He reached to open the glass door leading into the restaurant, but stopped short when he looked at the ground. Bens wallet lay there. He reached down and picked it up. 

"Uh, Ben!" Xander called. He ran over to Ben's car before he decided to leave and tapped on the window. 

Ben looked up at Xander in horror. "What?" he snapped. He rolled down his window quickly. 

"You....forgot this," Xander hesitated. "Is everything alright?"  
"Thanks," Ben said. He snatched the wallet out of Xanders hand and rolled up the window. He started the ignition and backed up. He switched gears, ready to speed out of there but then his hand started to shake. Glory was making her way out...

"Ugh!!" Ben cried out, clutching his head in pain. "Not now!" he yelled. He struggled for a few seconds, but then went limp all of a sudden and fell forward against the steering wheel. The horn blared into the parking lot, drawing some unwanted attention by people passing by. 

Xander stood there frozen for a second, then rushed to his side after his mind blanked out for a second. "Ben?" he asked. He walked over to the side of the car and peered in. He was taken aback by what he saw.....it was a girl. With blonde hair. That's all he could see. The face was hidden by the steering wheel.

He was just about to open the car door when the girl stirred, causing Xander to freeze. She lifted her head and rubbed her forehead. "What the hell am I doing here?" she asked. She didn't notice who was standing outside the car.

Her voice made Xander's blood freeze. "Glory," he whispered. Before she had a chance to look at him, Xander dashed out of there like a rabbit on fire. He looked back once to see if she was following him. Thankfully, she didn't take notice.

"What the hell is gong on?!" 

***

It seemed like an eternity before Dawn's eyes finally opened. She had a splitting headache and the worst dream in her life. But most of all, she had an awful taste in her mouth. Like she bit her tongue in her sleep and swallowed the tangy blood.

Dawn looked around. "Spike?" she whispered. Her throat felt hoarse as she talked. He didn't appear. She threw Spike's trench coat off of her as she stumbled out of bed, rubbing her forehead as she searched the house for him. "Spi-" 

__

What's this? Dawn panicked. She ran her finger across her forehead. It felt strangely bumpy and rough. She traced her fingers down her brow. It arched down dramatically to shield the top half of her eyes. Her hand began shaking as she remembered her dream. "It can't be."

Dawn ran around the house, trying to look for something reflective. She ran into every room and spotted Spike sitting down in a chair. 

He glanced up as he saw her glance in the room and look around, then dash back out. "Pigeon," he said. He stood up from the chair and followed her out. "Dawn, come back."

Dawn ignored him and spotted a mirror in the bathroom. She ran into the same bathroom that was in her dream. Then she began to realize. 

Dawn took a deep breath and walked into the room, turning on the light. 

"Dawn," Spike said. He looked to his left, then to his right. He spotted her in the bathroom. "Dawn, I need to talk to you."

Dawn looked back and closed the door before he could reach her. She turned the lock just as he turned the knob. "Don't do this," Spike yelled through the thin wood. He banged on the door. "You're not ready yet."

She ignored him and took another deep breath, approaching the mirror in total fear in what she might see. _Just get it over with, _her mind told her. She raised her eyes to the mirror and screamed at what she saw. It was worse than she imagined. 

She saw nothing. No reflection, no Dawn. No nothing. She sank to the floor slowly. This can't be true. Maybe the mirror was broken or something. She opened up the cupboard under the sink and found a small broken hand mirror. She raised it to her face, hoping and praying that she saw something. 

No such luck. 

"Then it wasn't a dream," she whispered, recalling the whole struggle. She raised her hand to her neck to confirm her fears. She could feel two small holes in her neck and jerked her hand back._ A monster. I'm a total monster. Just like Spike...._ A churning in her stomach made her suddenly feel sick as fear, disbelief and fury mixed together. She leaned over to the side and vomited all over the broken tiles on the floor. She continued to vomit and wiped her mouth a few seconds after, a sob escaping her burning throat. "All I wanted was a soul," she cried out. "Is that so much to ask for?" 

From the other side of the door, Spike sank to the floor, listening to her retch and cry at the same time. True pain blanketed his heart. Pain and regret and guilt. Things he had never felt before. He rested his head against the door. "I'm sorry," he said, hoping that she could hear him. "I'm so sorry."

***

"Ready to go?" Willow asked. 

"Yep," Buffy replied. "I've had enough of the African bat demon thingy. I just want to get home so we can hurry and find Dawn and Spike." 

"Alrighty." Willow held onto Buffy's shoulder and closed her eyes. "Return."

Within a few seconds, they were transported back to Spike's crypt in their familiar home of Sunnydale. 

"Buffy!" Giles said. He stood up. So did Anya. 

"Hey there, Tara," Willow said. She walked over to her girlfriend and helped her stand up. They hugged tightly, glad to be back with each other. 

"We got it," Buffy said. She motioned to Willow who was holding the jar of demon brains. 

"Fabulous," Giles said. "I guess we can get started."

"Wait," Buffy said. "Where's Xander?"

"Here I am," Xander puffed. He climbed down the ladder, skipping the last four steps and jumping to the ground. He was totally out of breath and red.

"Xander!" Anya cried out. She rushed to his side. "What's wrong, honey? Where's the food?"

Xander opened his mouth to talk, but instead bent down and held up his hand letting them give him a minute. After a few seconds of taking deep breaths, he straightened back up. "You will never guess what I saw."

"A bright purple elephant walking down Sunnydale with two acrobats from the circus riding on it's back?" Willow asked. 

They all looked at her. "Well, he did say guess."

"Well, don't leave us hanging here," Giles said. "Tell us."

"I saw Ben at Perkins when I went to get the food and-"

"The food?" Anya chirped. "If you went to Perkins, where's the food? You should never go to a restaurant and not get food. Food good."

"Ben?" Buffy asked. "What's so important about that?"

"Well, he seemed all weird when I was talking to him. One second he was fine, then the next he was freaking out and said he was in a hurry. Well, I found his wallet on the ground and went to give it to him. I walk up to his car and he really starts freaking out. I mean really. Shaking, yelling at himself like he was possessed by something."

"You think that's possible?" Willow asked. 

Giles nodded. "It's very possible indeed. There are many demons that can possess people."

"No," Xander said. "Not a demon."

Buffy crossed her arms over her puppy dog shirt. "Where are you going with this, Xander? We don't need to worry about a demon right now."

"A god. Glory to be exact."

The crypt was in total silence which was soon broke by Buffy. "Are you sure, Xander? Why would she want to possess Ben?"

"Look, I know what I saw," Xander defended. "I'm not making this up."

"I didn't say that. I just-"

"He could be right," Giles said. He took off his glasses and tapped his nose thinking. "Glory can't survive here on earth without a human counterpart. She needs a human body. Ben could very well be that counterpart."

"So, Glory's been under our noses the whole time?" Buffy asked. "By good little Ben."

"Well I think good little Ben has been a big bad the whole time," Xander suggested. "Glory's been making him get close to you to the key, Buffy. She knows you have it. But she also knows that you're not letting your guard down. She's waiting until the moment's just right to snatch up Dawn." 

"So....." Anya started. "How does this tie in getting rid of Glory?" 

"Kill Ben, kill Glory." Buffy replied. "The only thing is getting him to keep from transforming into her."

"Here," Willow said. She walked over to Buffy and handed her a charm with some sort of Celtic symbol on it. "This'll protect you from Glory. It won't stop Ben from changing into her, but it'll weaken Glory for a short amount of time when he does change. Just say 'amnorific' three times when you're near her, but she has to be at least five feet in range from you."

"Thanks." 

"But Ben's still an innocent," Anya protested. "He doesn't have any control over this."

"I know," Buffy said mercilessly. The Scooby gang stood there in silence. This changed everything now. 

"I'm going to have a little talk with Benny boy now," Buffy said, walking over to the ladder, stake in hand. "Get started on finding Dawn and Spike, Willow."

"Yes ma'am," Willow obeyed. 

"Shouldn't someone go with you?" Xander asked. "What if you need some help?"

"I can't risk any of you getting hurt. Besides, I know how to take care of this. I'll be back in a few. Hours that is." Buffy climbed the rest of the way up the ladder and headed towards Glory's apartment. He had to be there.....

"Should I?" Xander asked. 

"I think you should," Willow said. "And be careful."

***

Dawn didn't know how much time passed before she finally left the bathroom which was officially crowned her hideout. She was done crying, done thinking, and done negotiating with herself. 

She had to find Spike. 

Carefully and quietly, Dawn crept around the house. She pulled the stake out of her coat and peered into the next room. Spike lay on the couch, eyes closed and hands behind his head. He seemed to be sleeping. She lowered her stake and walked towards his figure, and hit herself mentally. She couldn't believe she actually had a crush on him just by the way he talked to her. Well, it wasn't that hard to believe. He did treat her like any other person. But it didn't matter what she liked about him. He was totally in love with Buffy and his whole turning Dawn into a vampire thing didn't really make her like him any more. In fact, she loathed him. 

Her heart began to race as she got closer to him. She knelt down next to his body and raised the stake, lining it up with his heart. _Die,_ Dawn's brain seethed. _Die. _

***

Glory sat in her luxurious apartment, finally clad in her own clothes. She hated it when she woke up in unfamiliar places. "Damn this body!" Glory yelled. She threw one of her shoes across the room. It crashed into the mirror which shattered into a million pieces. The sound of glass breaking put her mind at ease in a weird way. 

"And where did that stupid key go anyways? She's really putting a damper on my plans." Glory walked across the broken glass, the pain of the sharp edges not even bothering her. In fact, she welcomed it. "That stupid brat's really going to get it. Nobody get between me and my plans. I'm going to teach her."

"Well, unfortunately, Dawn really doesn't listen that much," a voice said. 

Glory spun around to face none other than the slayer. She grinned and crossed her arms. "Come for another beating?" She taunted. "I thought I proved who bested who last time."

Buffy, whose wardrobe was changed to a pair of black leather pants and a flattering pink shirt, mimicked Glory's actions by crossing her own arms. She didn't say anything. 

"Alrighty, then. I got some time to spare. Might as well use it in a fight." Glory charged Buffy, perfectly manicured nails bared. 

Buffy fluidly dodged Glory. She executed a perfect round off kick, sending a sharing blow to Glory's face. Unfortunately, it didn't do much damage. Glory just bounced right back and grabbed Buffy by her collar. "When are you ever going to learn, slayer girl?"

"Amnorific," Buffy whispered. She clutched the charm that was in her pocket. 

"What?" Glory demanded. "Doing a little witchcraft on me?" she asked. "Guess your little redhead friend didn't learn either."

"Amnorific," Buffy repeated. 

Glory glanced down at the slayers hand, which was buried deep in her pocket. She reached down and grabbed her hand, pulling it out along with the charm. "Ooooh, scary. Like a Celtic charm's really going to hurt me." She threw the charm across the room. Then she tightened her grip on Buffy's collar and flung her in the opposite direction. Buffy flew through the air at incredible speeds and crashed into the coffee table. 

"Why doesn't anybody learn?" Glory laughed. "Humans claim that they are the most powerful and smartest living things in the universe, yet they can't even learn from trial and error." Glory strode over to Buffy and picked her up, throwing her against the brick fireplace. She continued to chatter like fighting was like breathing for her. "Boy are they wrong. Humans aren't smart or powerful. They hide anything and everything that proves their species is weak and inferior. The American government is sole proof of that." She stood over Buffy who clutched her chest. The blow made her lose her breath for a second. "Awwww," Glory empathized. "Is little red riding hood getting beaten by the big bad wolf?" She grabbed one of the spears resting by the fireplace and traced the outline of Buffy's face with it, the sharp iron nicking the soft roundness of her cheek. "But there's one thing that humans can't hide, no matter how much they try to. Their emotions. The one proven weakness humans possess." 

"You don't even know what you're talking about," Buffy said. 

Glory chortled and straightened up, pacing the floor near Buffy. "I very much do know what I'm talking about. I can kill this entire town and not feel guilty about it. And you wanna know why?"

"Because you're a heartless wench who was exempted from being a god because you had your head too far up your ass?"

Glory glared at Buffy. "No, silly rabbit. Because I'm not human. I don't let my emotions take over. I don't let them decide my actions." She walked back to Buffy and kneeled down, crossing the lance across Buffy's neck. She pressed down hard, choking her. "You can ask your little boyfriend Spike. He'll tell you the same exact thing I said. And don't be fooled by his little innocent act. He just wants to do a slayer. That's the only reason he's acting so noble now."

Buffy felt her anger rise. She found a new surge of energy and pushed Glory off of her. She grabbed her neck and panted. "Spike's not my boyfriend!"

***

__

Die!

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Spike murmured, not opening his eyes. 

Dawn gasped and without thinking, attempted to stab Spike. He easily grabbed Dawn's wrist and stopped her, the stake inches away from his chest. Spike finally did open his eyes. "I tried to tell you. I had to do it. You would have died."

"I would have welcomed death," Dawn snapped, struggling to use her new strength to kill him. "At least I would know what I am instead of being a mix between a key, a vampire, and a soulless drone. Now instead of me resting in peace dying the same way everybody else will, I have to live with this the rest of my undead life."

Spike twisted the stake out of Dawns hand and threw it across the room. She scrambled up to retrieve it, but Spike had a firm grip over her hand. He squeezed it tightly enough to hurt. "I never had a problem with that," he said. "You get to see so many different things. So many different people. You get to live while everyone else rots."

"What? That's not a good thing," Dawn argued, wriggling her hand. "Do you think you'll be happy when we all die, including Buffy, and you're stuck here all alone with nobody to love?" 

This caught Spike off guard. He never really thought about that. And he wasn't really thinking when he released her hand unknowingly. 

Dawn scrambled up and raced to the stake. Spike didn't even try to stop her. She was right. He wouldn't be happy when they all died. He'd be miserable in fact. 

"Die!" Dawn screeched as she brought the stake down on him. 

"Sorry, luv," Spike said. He grabbed Dawn's wrist more rough this time. He had been holding back his strength on her so he wouldn't have to hurt her. But she wasn't going to let this up anytime soon. He reached back his arm and hit Dawn hard across her face. 

The young vampire fell backwards to the floor. She clutched her face and glared up at him. "That hurt!" She lunged at him and scratched his face, drawing small drops of blood onto the floor. She continued to claw at him until he punched her in the stomach. Hard. 

Dawn groaned and fell to the floor, the breath knocked out of her along with her consciousness. 

Spike breathed hard and looked down at Dawn. Her face changed back to the normal girl he knew as Buffy's sister. "Damn vixen," he muttered as he wiped the blood off his cheek. He picked up her body and placed her on the couch he was lying in. He couldn't blame her though. He turned her against her will.

"How am I going to explain this to the others?" He rubbed the back of his head and gasped when he felt a pair of arms wrap around him from behind.

***

"How much longer is this going to take?" Anya asked. She paced the room impatiently. "I have places to be. We could be making a whole lot of cash as the Magic Box right now, you realize that Giles, right?"

Giles grew angry. "This is far too important to be worried about money," he scolded. "Right now we need to let Willow concentrate on her spell. If her mind wanders too far from listening to us talk too much, it could alter the whole process."

Anya pouted and continued to pace. " 'Don't talk, Anya, you might ruin her concentration,' " she mimicked Giles, British accent and all. 

"I heard that."

Anya gave out an embarrassed chuckle. "Right."

The room stayed quiet for a few more minutes, then Willow's eyes opened sharply and she gave out a short gasp. A tear in the dimensions materialized in front of her and she sank to the side. 

"Willow!" Tara gasped. She clutched her hand to her mouth and struggled to get to her feet. She was too weak to move and instead fell forward on Spike's mattress. "No," she whimpered. 

"I've got her, Tara," Giles comforted. He rushed to the fallen girls' side and lifted her head in his hands. Her eyes fluttered open and she raised her hand to her nose, wiping the blood away. 

"Alright!" Anya cheered. "About time, Willow."

Giles gave Anya a look and turned back to Willow who was regaining her strength. 

"I'm ok," she said. Giles helped the shaky girl up and she sat down on Spike's bed next to Tara. She wrapped her in a hug. 

"Did it work?" Anya asked. "Because if it didn't, I'm not waiting through another spell."

Giles peered through the portal. On the other side, he could see Spike's vampire form fighting a swarm of demons in what looked like to be a house. "Yes. Fortunately it did work. Unfortunately Spike's a little busy right now."

***

"Get....the....hell.....back!" Spike yelled, punching the swarm of demons who ambushed him. There were so many. He didn't think he was going to make it. What he needed was a miracle.

"Spike!" he heard a voice call. 

Spike furrowed his eyebrows together and looked around. Now he was hearing voices. 

"Spike!" the voice called again. 

This time he turned around and gasped. There was some type of tear in the middle of the room. On the other side were the Scooby gang he sadly wasn't apart of. 

"Giles?" Spike questioned. "What are you-" He didn't get to finish his sentence. He was thrown to the other side of the room by a demon. 

"A way out!" the demon informed the others. He tried to break through the gateway, but was kicked back by Giles. 

"Spike, this thing isn't going to hold forever!" Willow yelled. "You and Dawn need to get through quick."

"Wish I could, darlin, but I'm a little busy right now." He fought off another demon and then another. 

"Spike, help Dawn!" Giles yelled frantically. 

Spike looked up and charged the demon who stood over Dawn hungrily. He threw him back against the wall and he crashed into the next room. In turn, another demon grabbed Spike and hammered his elbow on his skull. He got up shakily.

"Just hurry!" Dawn urged. "The portal will close in three minutes."

***

Buffy found new strength as she fought off Glory. But no matter how much strength she conjured up, it wasn't a match. Buffy was thrown back against a full body mirror. The glass shattered and flew across the room, slicing her body and clothes in a matter of seconds. She ignored the stinging pain and went for Glory once again. Nothing was working no matter what she did. What can kill her?

"This is getting boring!" Glory raged. She kicked Buffy in the stomach and sighed. She grabbed the poker from the fireplace and walked over to the fallen slayer. "I'm done playing. It's time for you to go and join your dead mother." She raised the spear and began to bring it down on Buffy, but she stopped short. Something was holding her back. She felt a tug on the poker and it flew out of her hands. She glanced back and narrowed her eyes. Xander stood there with the weapon in his hands. "You could really hurt somebody with this," he commented. He brought it back and hit her across the face with it. 

Glory stumbled to the side and clutched her face. She glared up at him. "What reject bandwagon did you fall off of, dork?" she asked. She grabbed Xander's shirt and flung him across the room. He landed with a thud and groaned. This just wasn't his day.

Glory turned back to the slayer and kicked her in the ribs. "Looks like you got some stupid friends," she said. 

"I am not stupid!" Xander yelled, standing up weakly. He held the Celtic charm in his hands. "I'll let you know that I graduated with straight A's. Here, Buff!" he said. The item sailed through the air over Glory's head and into the hands of Buffy. 

"Amnorific," Buffy said a last time. She stood up and approached Glory who just laughed. 

"How many times do I have to tell you? Your little magic and charms won't work against me. I'm a god for crying out loud."

"We'll just see about that," Buffy said. She reached back and whacked a good one across Glory. She stumbled back and laughed. "What did I tell you. You can't hurt me." She straightened up and tasted something in her mouth. "What's this?" she questioned. She put her finger in her mouth and looked at it. It was covered in red blood. 

"Looks like you're not as powerful as you think," Buffy said. She punched Glory again, sending her flying. 

She hit the wall and fell to the floor face down. 

Buffy strode towards her and pulled her head up by her hair. "Time to go bye-bye," she said. She held the iron spear in her hands, ready to strike. 

Then all of a sudden, Glory changed back to Ben. 

"Agh!" he screamed. He held his arms up in surrender. "Don't Buffy. It's ok. It's me."

Buffy still had a hold of him by Glory's dress. "I know." Then with a swift move, she sliced Ben's head off. 

Instead of there being blood like she expected, Ben's remains turned to ashes and they dissolved into the ground. 

"Hm," Xander said. "Ben was a vampire all along. Who would of thought?" He walked towards Buffy and put his arm around her shoulder. 

"That just made all my guilt fly out the window," Buffy commented. "Well, let's get back. Hopefully Willow found them by now."

***

"Why didn't you tell me that sooner?" Spike yelled. He grabbed Dawn from the couch and walked over to the portal. He was just about to step through, but a demon grabbed him behind. Spike dropped Dawn through the portal and she landed safely on the other side. Giles grabbed Dawn and pulled her away from the portal and placed her on Spikes bed next to Tara who started crying at the sight of the little girl. 

"Come on, Spike!" Anya cheered on. "Kick some demon ass!" 

"It would be a lot easier if somebody could help me!" Spike yelled. He ducked under one of the demons swings. "Where's the slayer?" he yelled. "I need her help."

"She's a little busy taking care of Glory," Giles said. "Just jump through before it closes. Hurry!"

"I'm TRYING!" Spike yelled. He looked at the portal. It seemed to be getting smaller by the second. He threw a stray demon across the room and dove through the portal, landing on the other side just before it closed. He panted and stayed lying on the floor. His hundreds of years of life flashed before him. "Not a bad life," he muttered to himself. 

"Are you alright?" Willow asked. She stood up and looked down at Spike. He looked pretty banged up. 

"Just peachy, luv," he muttered. "Just peachy."

"Uhhhh," a voice said. "What'd we miss?"

"Xander!" Anya cried out. She rushed towards him and wrapped him in a big hug. 

"Ah, ah, ah, ah. Watch the ribs," he said. "They're a little tender."

"So is Glory dead?" Giles asked. "Please tell me so."

"Yep," Xander said. "It's about time we got some good news around here."

Buffy looked at Dawn and rushed by her side. She was sleeping peacefully and looked pretty much alright as far as she knew. Boy was she wrong. 

"So ugly!" Tara cried out. She scrambled away from Dawn as if she were infected. "She's so ugly. She's so evil."

"What?" Willow asked. "It's Dawn," she reassured. "Just Dawn."

"Ugly! Hideous!" Tara hid her face in Willow's shoulder. Willow gave Buffy an apologetic look. "I'm sorry," she said. "I don't know what got into her."

"Uh, yeah. There's a reason for that," Spike said slowly. He stood up and approached Buffy. "I have some bad news."

Buffy's eyes widened. Bad news? Bad news from a bad person? Bad news coming from a bad person equaled twice the amount of just regular bad news. "What is it?" Buffy questioned. She had a feeling that she didn't want to know. 

"Well, there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to say it straight out. Dawn's.....a member of the undead now. She's a vampire."

The Scooby gang stood there in astonished silence. This couldn't be right. Dawn a vampire?

Buffy looked at Spike with a blank expression, then turned to look at Dawn who stirred in her sleep. It couldn't be right. She looked normal enough. She didn't look all slashy and vampire-like. "You're lying," Buffy said. She stood up angrily. "You're-"

"Buffy, look," Giles said quietly. Buffy turned and looked back at everyone. All their eyes were fixated on Dawn. She turned in her sleep and in the process, transformed for a split second, revealing her true form. She turned back to normal and continued on sleeping. 

"No," Buffy croaked out. Her eyes welled up with tears as she glared at Spike. "How could you do this? How could you?" She lashed out at Spike and he backed away from her. 

"Let me explain," he begged. "I had to do it. I had to-"

"What?! You _had _to turn my only family left into a vampire?" Buffy screamed. She charged Spike, but Xander grabbed her and held her back tightly. 

"Don't," he said. "Allow me." He reached back and punched Spike in the face. 

He stumbled back and fell to the ground. "Bloody-" he started, holding his nose. "Look, if I could have prevented it I would have. You're lucky that I did this. If I didn't Dawn would be dead."

Buffy didn't care. She charged Spike still and tackled him to the ground, straddling him. "You're going to be dead next," she cried out. She grabbed a stake lying next to the two and held it to his heart. "How do I change her back?" she whispered, barely audible.

Spike didn't answer her. 

"How do I change her back!" Buffy yelled this time. She pressed the stake harder onto his skin, drawing blood. 

Spike yelled out in pain and grew extremely frustrated. "You should know more than anybody that you can't change them back. You should know-"

"Wrong answer," Buffy said. She raised her stake. 

"Don't," Giles said. He had grabbed her hand to stop her. 

"What?" Buffy cried out. "He-he turned my sister into a vampire. He killed hundreds of people. Why should I let him live?"

"Because of the chip," Giles responded calmly. "He couldn't have hurt Dawn. He has to be telling the truth."

Buffy looked back down at Spike. "No. It must be broken. He must have done something to it."

"Giles does have a point," Willow said. "He couldn't have done it."

Buffy sat in astounded silence. "What? Now you're all taking his side? What about Dawn? She has to live with what he did to her." She looked at Xander for help. He would have jumped for the chance of her killing Spike. "Xander?" she pleaded. 

Xander lowered his eyes so he didn't have to bare looking at her pained expression. "I agree with Giles," he said. "He couldn't have done it just by himself."

Buffy began to lose it. "Am I the only person who wants him dead?" she questioned. "He-he turned Dawn..." she stopped short and stood up. She couldn't stay here anymore. She gave Spike one last look and ran out of the crypt. She needed to get away from there. From the world. From dealing with vampires every ten seconds. She ran and ran and ran through town as fast as she could. She didn't know where she was going. As long as she was away from her so-called friends. 

Buffy continued running until she stumbled to the ground tiredly. Her heart pounded in her heart feverishly. Buffy looked up from her spot on the ground and found herself in front of her mothers grave. She crawled to it and traced her fingers across the engraved words. "Oh, mommy," Buffy cried sobbed. "I failed." She wrapped her arms around the tombstone as if it were actually her mother. "I failed you and I failed Dawn." She sniffled and tiredness came across her. "I need to take a long break from all of this," she said. "I just need a rest so bad." She rested her head against the tombstone and closed her eyes. Before she knew it, she drifted into a long awaited sleep. 

***

"You know we didn't save you because we like you," Xander said. "In fact, we hate you. We just saved you because we think you're telling the truth."

Spike stood up from the ground and brushed himself off. "Well thanks. I'm so happy you believe me," he said sarcastically. 

"That's it," Xander said. He grabbed Spike by his collar and raised the stake in his hand, threatening him. "This is the last straw."

"No, Xander, don't," Giles said. "Let's just get out of here and find Buffy. Who knows where she could have went?"

Xander stared into Spike's eyes with hatred. "You are just so lucky there are people like us in the world," he said, dropping Spike's shirt. "If it were any other slayer, you would have been skewered already." He walked to Spike's bed and picked up Dawn, following the others out of the crypt. 

"Why doesn't anybody listen to me?" Spike asked the empty crypt. "How am I supposed to prove myself when they won't even give me a chance to?"

***

It was three days later and Buffy still hadn't moved from her perch next to her mother's grave. She went without eating, without bathing, and without slaying. The whole world live without her for a few days. Then finally she decided to get up. She thought long enough about anything and everything she never understood before: why she was chosen to be a slayer, why her life was cursed with such misfortune. And why the people she loved the most always ended up hurt. 

"Thought I'd find you here," a voice said quietly. 

Buffy didn't even glance up. She knew that voice too familiar. "Angel," she said quietly. She ran her hand over her hair and started to panic. "Don't look at me, Angel. I look horrible."

The silent man stalked over next to Buffy. "You know I don't care about that," he said. He crouched down and ran his hand over her sweaty face. "You've been here for three days?" he asked. 

Buffy nodded and still didn't raise her eyes. "How do you know?"

"I stopped by your place after I heard....what happened to Dawn with her soul and all."

Buffy gave out a scornful chuckle. "And did you hear about how Spike turned Dawn?" She finally did raise her eyes to his, melting in the warmth of them. How she wanted to be with him again. "About how he turned her into something so evil." Buffy lowered her eyes once again. 

Angel sighed and felt her pain. "You of all people should know that all vampire's aren't bad." He ran his hand through her hair, not minding the tangles and the dirt. "That some are just misled. That they want a second chance." Buffy raised her eyes to his and read them. She could feel the double meaning in his words. "Spike...." she whispered. 

"He's trying, Buffy," Angel said. "I can't believe these words are coming our of my mouth, but he really did protect Dawn down in the hell dimensions. And he's really trying to change. I know that I never agreed with his decisions in the past, but I truly think something finally clicked in his brain."

"How do you know though?" Buffy asked. "I mean, how do you truly know? Because I honestly can't tell the difference."

Angel sighed and looked down. He linked their hands together in a friendly gesture. "Well, I went to your house to check up on how you and Dawn were doing. Obviously, I didn't find you there. Instead I heard Dawn telling them everything that happened. How....why she was turned into a vampire."

Buffy became more alert. "You....heard all that?" she asked. "Well...what did she say?"

"That Spike did save her. She seemed pretty out of it and angry at everything, but then she came to her senses. She told Willow and the others that she was bitten by a demon who attacked them. She was near death and Spike turned her to keep her from dying. And Dawn said she was going to try to stick this vampire thing out."

Buffy looked down into her lap. So, Spike was telling the truth after all. How could she be so stupid?

"And that's not all," Angel said. 

Buffy looked up at him. _What else could there be?_

"Well, for the past few days, Willow, Giles, and Xander have been researching how to reverse what's been done. And, Willow has already changed her back."

"What?" Buffy breathed. She stood up now, a huge relief coming over her. "But...how?"

Angel shook his head. "I don't know how. But Dawn in fine now. She still has to be in bed for a while. Some of the side effects of being a vampire haven't totally worn off yet, so she might have to stay out of the sun for a few days."

Buffy began to feel giddy inside. Her sister was going to be fine. That's all she cared about. "Well, this is great news!" Buffy exclaimed. "Maybe what Willow did to Dawn she can do to you. Make you become a human."

Angel stood up also and said nothing for a while. He just stared into her eyes and Buffy read them perfectly. It would never happen. That's what his eyes told her. 

Buffy sighed and changed the subject. "How long are you going to be in town?" she asked, the pains of not eating and bathing catching up to her. 

"I'm leaving tonight. I came three days ago and searched for you. I have to get back home. Things to do."

"Oh," Buffy said. She looked down at her feet awkwardly. 

"Come here," Angel said with that serene calm voice. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him, embracing her into a tight hug. "I love you," he said softly into her ear. 

Buffy closed her eyes. "I love you too."

***

Spike laid in his sanctuary, clad in only his sheets, hands behind his head and thoughts racing through his mind. He hadn't seen Buffy for forever, it seemed. In reality, it was only three days. He sighed and rolled over to his side, closing his eyes. He had half the mind to go find Buffy, but he was afraid of her now. Of her rejection, of her hatred. 

"Spike," a small feminine voice said through the hollow room, her voice amplified by the tightness of the cavern.

Spike opened his eyes and rolled to face the doorway. He was surprised to see Buffy standing there. He was the last person he expected to see. 

"Buffy," he said, sitting up taking small notice that he was laying practically naked. Those white sheets didn't really obscure his figure. "What are you doing here?" he asked. He was about to get up, but stopped himself. "Uh, you think you can turn around, luv?" he asked politely, reaching for his clothes.

Buffy turned, a slight blush coming over her face. "I-I shouldn't even be here," she said. 

"But?" Spike started. There was more reason to why she was here. He knew that much. Just why he wasn't sure of. 

"But...I needed to see you. I needed to tell you something."

Spike stood up from his bed and dropped his pants to the floor, creeping towards her slowly as if hunting a deer. He didn't want to scare her away. "Well get on with it then," he said. He meant it to come out hastily, but it came out gentle and comforting in a way. 

Boy, Spike never made anything easy. "Are-are you done?" Buffy asked. "I kind of need to look at you when I say this."

"You can turn around if you want," Spike said slyly.

"Good," she said and turned around. She gasped to see him so close behind her. And still naked. "Spike," she whispered, taking a step back. "What are you doing?"

He closed in on her until she was backed against a wall. "I'm listening," he said. "Continue."

Buffy altered her eyes from his....stake and she concentrated on his scar instead. She lifted her hand and ran her fingers across it gingerly. "I...I just wanted to thank you for what you did for Dawn. I kinda figured that you did what you had to because her life was in danger. I know you wouldn't do anything to hurt me or my family."

"Never," Spike promised, melting under her soft fingers. 

"And just in case you wanted to know, Dawn has been changed back to normal. A spell Willow did." She watched for his reaction and a look of relief came over his face. She continued on. "I know I haven't been what you would call a friend. Or even an associate." She couldn't help but notice Spike's face closing in on her. She hurried and continued. "But after all of this. Everything we've been through, I can finally say that you're turning into a human. And I think that matters the most."

"Is that all?" Spike asked, his lips grazing hers as he talked. He ran his tongue across her lips and Buffy was taken aback. She pushed Spike back a little. 

"What do you expect me to say? That I love you?"

Spike's eyes were solemn as he peered into hers. "That would be a good start," he said, pleading with her mentally to say the words he longed for so bad. The words that made her his; made her surrender. 

" 'Like,' " Buffy stated. "I like you a lot. And who knows. Maybe it'll change into something more."

Spike grinned and wrapped her in his arms. "That's good enough for me." 

He lowered his mouth to hers slowly to see if she protested. At first she pulled back slightly, scared to actually be in intimate contact with him. Before she couldn't even stand being in the same room with him. Then in the blink of an eye, all the inhibitions she knew of, all the hatred she felt for him before flew out the window with the force of a hungry long awaited kiss.

Hey! This is the second part to my Buffy fanfic. Hope you enjoyed it!! Maybe I'll write more if this darn writers block would leave! 


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